Extremis
by Havocfrost
Summary: An explosion at a secret Cadmus facility led to his escape, but now Subject Four must come to grips with the reality of his situation, as well as the nature of the experimental armour stored within his bones. But he isn't alone, he's got a whole team to help him as well as one very special Boy Wonder. Au / Slash.
1. Pain

**_Three years earlier_**

"This is unacceptable." He tossed the manilla folder to the side of the desk as he brought the glass of cognac to his lips.

"Mr President, I'm not going to give in to the childish notion of saying I told you so, that's why I put forward my proposal with the report."

"And this, what was it?, Project Cadmus, you really think it can help?"

"Mr President, every scenario we've run has our country under Metahuman control within twenty four hours of going rogue. Our conventional forces have nothing to counter them save for nukes which you and I both know is not an acceptable deterrent."

"You don't have to tell me twice, Amanda, I know." The man sighed as his fingers rubbed the outer edges of his eyes. He'd grown up on a farm in Idaho, helping his parents tend to the crops that would go on to feed thousands of people all over the country. He'd grown up believing in the image of America that included white picket fences and freedom for all.  
The report that the woman had handed him had completely destroyed that image and substituted it for something that he didn't recognise. Something terrible. Something he was about to let loose.

"Then you agree with my recommendation?"

There was a pause that lingered longer than it had any right to.

"Yes."

* * *

**_Present day_**

Pain

A dull haze washed over his senses as the ache of consciousness returned to the forefront of his mind. It throbbed in his head, like someone was letting loose with a power drill right in the center of his forehead.  
Then he felt it on his chest, no, in his chest. A sharp stinging sensation before what felt like fire washed over the rest of his lower stomach and into what he guessed was his gut. It kept going, eventually encompassing the section of his chest that was guarded by his ribs before making it difficult to breathe.

_What's happening?_

In the recesses of his mind, neurons fired as he motioned for his arms to move to the affected area in the hope that placing his hands there would somehow stop the fiery sensation, but they didn't, they wouldn't move. That was about the same time he realised that he had been staring into darkness since waking.

"Scalpel."

A voice, a man's came from what he guessed was his left at the same time that the smell of antiseptic made its way to his nose and he inwardly cringed, was he the reason for the pain?  
The voice held the faintest hint of an accent from somewhere, he didn't know where as still more pain stifled through his head, cutting off his chain of thought.  
_  
Help me_

He wanted to cry out, to scream as the Doctor did something that made the pain increase tenfold in intensity, but nothing came from his mouth except for silence, his mouth barely even moving.

"Progress looks good, from what the probe is showing it looks like the bone marrow and primary organs have been successfully supplanted, can't tell on the muscle mass yet but everything seems to be on schedule."

_On schedule?_

Through the burning pain he heard another voice through what sounded like a loudspeaker. It crackled as the message it transmitted reverberated throughout wherever he was.

"Excellent, Doctor. Can it be assumed that this one will prove to be more successful than the last batch we used?"

A woman's voice this time, she sounded a bit younger than what must have been the doctor but it held an underlying tone of authority and seriousness that seemed out of place.

_Wait, last batch?_

He wanted to move now, he wanted to open his eyes and see what was happening, to see what was causing him to experience such god-awful pain as it washed up his body like an ocean wave.

"Progress has been far in excess of predicted rates, ma'am, I think it's safe to say that he should be a success."

"And what of the power source?"

"About to check that now."

He couldn't see it but he felt a small tube slither its way through the lower half of his chest to where his heart must have been before he felt like he'd been kicked.

"Power source is now syncing with organ conductors and control interface, everything looks good."

He found himself suddenly short of breath, like it had all been sucked out of his lungs and he'd been left to wither and struggle like a recently caught fish.

"Alright, power source is in place and synced, time to see if the healing factor has kicked in."

He gasped for more air, trying to clutch for a fraction more of the life giving concoction. Slowly, agonisingly, it returned over a period that seemed like an eternity, as if this was all some form of elaborate torture experiment. Then he recalled what the doctor had said.

_Healing factor?_

The pain around his gut started to lessen, like a slowly receding wave from his pelvis towards his lower ribs until it simply . . . stopped. Except for his headache, nothing seemed to hurt any more. It was all strangely . . . alien in its calmness.

"Remarkable, it's more efficient than anything we've seen in the other subjects. The tissue has already scarred over, truly remarkable. Ok, moving on to spinal column."

Gravity shifted as he felt, instead of saw his world turning upside down as whatever he was lying on slowly shifted with a soft mechanical hum. This was the first time he felt the restraints around his wrist and ankles and what felt like a strap around his forehead as his body fell prey to gravity and slid towards the earth.  
He wanted to get out of here, wherever here was and stop whatever was happening, but his arms still stubbornly refused to move and his legs remained the same as the former.

_Move, damn it!_

A cold feeling suddenly became prevalent as what must have been some sort of cream was applied to the center of back. It tingled for a few seconds more before the feeling disappeared.

"Injecting batch three seven one into spinal column, now. Final dosage."

The pain returned again, the small drilling feeling as something dug into his spine ached through his central back before the fire returned. It hurt like all hell, even with the numbing sensation of the previously applied cream.  
It moved quickly, from the center of his back towards the edge of his shoulder blades before stopping just short of his neck, slowly but surely turning from a tolerable ache into what felt like flames being pumped through his veins.  
He wanted to scream, to cry, to do _something._  
That was when he felt his fingers move.

_Move, move!_

"Spinal progress looks just as good as the chest cavity, the nervous system has been almost entirely repurposed and the bone marrow is already converted."

_MOVE!_

The crackle of the loudspeakers echoed as the woman spoke again.

"When can we start moving onto combat trials?" a tinge of excitement crept through her otherwise emotionless voice before the doctor replied.

"I'd recommend waiting for at least two weeks to ensure the body has adapted to the armour fully before considering moving onto anything combat oriented, we still don't know what kind of side effects that it might have." He replied adamantly.

"In that time we can use the Genomorphs to teach him everything he needs to know, and just for safe measure, I'm implanting a control chip to fall back on. He'll be totally under our control."

He ceased struggling as he took in the implications of their words.

_Control Chip? Armour? What are you doing to me?_

"What about the Nanites? How are they adapting?" The woman spoke again.

"It looks like the decision to tailor them to a specific DNA sample has paid off; I can't see any signs of rejection from the clone tissue. The Healing Factor's also kicked in much faster than anticipated. The past few days of incubation and procedural infusions also appear to be successful."

"What about the memory wipe?"

"Hard to tell at this stage, we'll have to run some tests once the subject is conscious and functional but they haven't failed in the past. He shouldn't remember anything of the procedures before we wake him."

"Excellent work, Doctor, your work for Project Cadmus will be invaluable in the future."

"Thank you, Ma'am. Do you wish to proceed with the control chip?"

"Please."

"Yes Ma'am. Withdrawing from spinal column now."

_I have to get out of here. I have to get out of here now!_

Suddenly, a jolt of pain from his back erupted, more intense and agonising than anything that had occurred before it. He wanted to scream, to shout, to tear off the restraints and run as far away as possible._  
_An alarm sounded as the monitor measuring his heart rate galloped from a steady rhythmic pace to one more akin to an Olympic sprinter.

"Jesus, his heart rate just spiked, we must have hit a nerve cluster, administer a dose of-"

His speech was cut off by one of the nurses assisting him.

"Doctor! Look!"

_Let me out!  
_  
The sound of twisting metal filled the room before the restraints around his arm gave way under the enormous stress they had suddenly been subjected to. His arms shot upwards, ripping out needles and IV drips and anything else that had been placed within.

"Shit, he's fighting the anaesthetic! Get me the tranquilizers, now!"

More sounds of twisting and breaking metal as the restraints around his ankles tore apart from the strain they too, had been fighting. The scene from his arms repeated as heart monitors suddenly flatlined as their connections to his body were severed.  
Over the sudden explosion of chaos came the woman's voice again, the urgency bleeding its way into her otherwise crisp and professional tone.

"Get it under control, Doctor!"

The darkness clouding his eyes gave way to a sudden and intense whiteness, obscuring his view as his pupils adjusted to see light for the first time.  
His arms made their way to his head, where the last restraint keeping him from freedom was violently torn off and tossed towards an approaching form that looked vaguely human in appearance.  
He heard a curse from the doctor as he tumbled backwards from the object that had impacted his face and onto the cold, marble floor of the operating room.

_Fight._

His vision was clearing now, he could make out the details of the various objects and people that inhabited the room. It was painted a sterile white with a series of large tubes that connected to five different and now empty vials. Above his head were three screens of what looked to be his body's nervous system, as well as a scan of his brain and a measurement scale adorned with the word _Extremis. _Next to that lay a percentage gauge that flashed with one word. Complete.

"Everybody out! Now!" The various nurses and other attendants dropped everything from plates of flesh to vials of blood to what looked like a hacksaw as the realisation that the person they had been working on, the weapon they had been crafting, tore off his restraints and other attachments.

"Security to medical lab three one three, non lethal measures only!"

Alarms now sounded throughout the facility and men who had rehearsed the same alert dozens of times made their way towards the armoury to gather their gear. Riot shields, stun guns, electrified batons and the occasional set of brass knuckles were all adorned upon them as they rushed towards the source of the emergency.

Despite all the chaos, something nagged at the back of his mind like an itch before suddenly revealing itself. It was a voice, calm and controlled while clearly artificial that understood the urgency of his situation. He wasn't sure if it was his or not but it told him one thing.

_Tactical response team inbound. Commence escape._

He hobbled off the table only to feel his legs give way beneath him. The floor rushed up to meet him as his hands moved to stop his momentum. The marble cracked underneath his palms as his descent suddenly stopped and the world came back into focus. He shook his head as he forced himself to stand.

_I recommend you start running.  
_  
The voice returned, louder and more intense than before, barking with equal hints of desperation and anger instead of the controlled tone it had displayed moments before.

He arms extended as he made it up through sheer force of will and the copious amounts of adrenaline that had seemed to replace the blood in his veins.  
His eyes turned towards the door that had been left open as the sound of sirens and the yellow flash of emergency lights filled the world his senses were trying to process.

Slowly, his legs started to pace forward as he moved through the doorway and into the corridor that was illuminated only with the flashing yellow emergency lights.  
It was metallic and angular in design, the walls painted subdued grey with the occasional lines of black and red that looked to be wiring corridors. It was also extremely cold.  
He stumbled forward, clutching his chest as the pain travelled from his spine back towards his gut with its trademark intensity.  
He heard voices in the distance and saw the shadows of what looked like half a dozen figures moving towards him, quickly.

_That is the only route out of the facility. You must engage._

His legs started to pace towards the incoming figures as the sound of their footsteps became louder and louder the closer he got. The shadows soon morphed into actual figures as six men brandishing electrified batons and what looked like stun guns formed a line in front of him.

"Freeze! Stand down!" The one who looked to be the leader had his stun gun clearly in hand as he barked the order towards the escaped test subject.  
Then the voice returned.

_Subject four, you must engage!_

He grit his teeth as he accelerated towards the man who had issued the warning, The aforementioned stun gun now clearly aimed towards the central section of his chest.

"Last chance! Stand down!"

He ignored the warning and piled on the speed while his newly freed hands morphed into fists.  
Adrenaline coursed through him as time seemed to slow down and only the steady rhythm of his now climbing heart beat echoed in his ears.

"Drop him!"

Three fiery hot pinpricks of pain made themselves known as the stun gun projectiles latched onto him, channelling thousands of volts electricity into his body in an attempt to subdue his advance.  
He fell to the floor as his arms and legs went rigid from the stun gun, causing a large section of the floor to crack and break as his momentum carried him to the ground.  
The volts continued for several more seconds before ceasing, the guards weary but still seemingly satisfied that he had been incapacitated.  
A few seconds passed before the crackle of the leaders shoulder mounted radio came to life.

"This is Charlie squad, subject is contained, waiting on a cleanup-"

He never finished his sentence as the stun gun he had been holding was grabbed by the end of the barrel, pulling him forward into an incoming fist. It was almost surreal to hear the sound, the crack of the mans newly broken jaw as the reactions of the nearby guards indicated that it was audible even to his them.

_You must incapacitate the rest. I will assist._

The voice repeated for the second time before his arms leapt forward of their own accord, grabbing the newly incapacitated guard by his bullet proof vest and tossing him towards one of his friends that had been reaching for his own stun gun. Both were knocked into the window of a nearby lab, shattering glass and knocking over specimens of plants and blood.  
The others failed to react quickly enough as he charged towards the closest one to him, punching him square in his stomach before grabbing him as well and turning him into another makeshift projectile.  
Two guards were caught in the way of their newly thrown compatriot as his momentum carried them both towards the solid wall of the hallway, and then through it.

"To hell with this!"

The final guard reached for the pistol that had been holstered at his hip, fumbling with the strap in attempt to shoot the seemingly unstoppable being that was charging towards him.  
He managed to get his fingers wrapped around the grip before two hands grabbed his neck and the arm he had been hoping to hold the gun in, crunching the bones in the latter before his whole body flew through the newly created hole in the hallway and into the subdued bodies of his companions, breaking various other pieces of equipment.

_"_Lockdown the base, all staff remain where you are!"  
There was the women's voice again, calmness replaced with the bark of authority more akin to a guard dog.

_Facility security measures engaged. Escape impossible in current situation. Distraction required._

He didn't stop to contemplate how he had even managed to throw three men through a wall or how he had resisted the charge of the stun gun, now all he paid heed to was the fresh set of instructions being fed to him.

_Facility layout downloaded. A fire in the nearby chemical containment chamber will cause lockdown to be overridden. Subject four, you must initiate this. Marking location now._

There it was again, the voice that didn't belong to him rang in his head, giving him instructions on how to deal with things he didn't understand. He didn't care at the moment, he just needed to get out, go somewhere that wasn't here.  
Somewhat instinctively, he turned left towards where the end of the corridor branched off, sighting several signs that read where the various rooms were located. Then he found the arrows leading towards the chemical chamber and its locked entrance.

_Your velocity will be enough to destroy the doors. Continue towards them._

Again his legs leapt forward, propelling him faster and faster towards the doors that a protective layer of composite material had slid over. He angled his right shoulder towards the center section of the material and braced as the distance between them vanished.

Then he hit it.

The screech of the metal guard plates filled his ears as they gave way to his bulk, cracking and twisting before being violently forced apart as he travelled between them. He fell towards the rooms floor as the last effort by the doors to repel the projectile that had suddenly assaulted them failed and gave way.  
His head rang as the sound of a new alarm whined throughout the base, indicating the newly breached nature of the room and the danger of its now sole occupant.

_Explosives and chemical accelerants identified. Subject four, you must open the two containers your left, then, open the valve behind them._

He arms extended as he lifted himself off the marble floor for the second time in less than five minutes, the ringing sensation playing in his head still fairly audible over the whine of the alarms.  
His eyes locked on to the two containers the voice had spoke of, both red and marked _Volatile_.  
He quickly got to his feet and made his way over, clenching his hand into a fist and smashing through the side of one, before repeating the process a second time for the other.

_The valve to your left must be opened, Subject Four._

He took the few remaining steps towards the valve that jutted out of the otherwise plain looking wall, grasping it in his hand and turning until the resistance it offered was no longer present.  
Then he snapped it off to prevent anyone else from tampering with it.

_Directly ahead of you, at eye level behind the wall, lies an electrical conduit. Breach the wall and expose the wiring._

He clenched his fist once again and stepped back, desiring to give more power to his swing, before smashing forward through the wall as if it were wet cardboard. Instantly he felt a bundle of copper wiring and grabbed hold, pulling back with as much force as he deemed necessary to break it free.  
Sparks flew as the wiring now jutted out of the wall next to the recently broken valve, twisting and writhing like a snake with a broken back.

_Task accomplished. You must retreat back down the corridor junction to escape blast radius._

"Wai-" He spoke for the first time before pain cut through the sand paper feeling of his throat and silenced him.

_Go now!_

He turned towards the destroyed room doors and ran. He ran as fast as his newly awakened legs would allow. Back down towards the T junction of the hallway and behind the wall as he felt a sudden feeling of heat creep up his back.  
Just as he rounded the corner, a jet of green flame leapt down the other side of the junction, scorching the walls, electronic panels, equipment and anything else it came into contact with.  
He waited. Waited until he couldn't feel the heat on his bare back anymore and until the alarms changed once again.

"Facility safety status compromised, Lifting Lock down. All staff must make their way towards their nearest emergency exit."

_The path is now clear, Subject Four. Return down the T junction and an exit should be present_

Now he addressed the voice, wondering how it knew what to do in every situation.

"Wh-who are you?"

_I am you._

"Wha-"

_There is no time. You must escape. Now!_

His legs moved for him as he trudged back down the now scorched hallway. Flames licked at his sides as smoke began to cloud his vision and choke his lungs. But he kept running. Past the flashing lights and alarm speakers. Past the now exploding labs that housed god knows what.  
Passed everything as his vision became even more clouded.

_Exit directly ahead. Maintain forward velocity._

He didn't need to be told twice. He kept on running and running until his vision degraded to zero visibility.

_Twenty more meters._

His legs were burning as they tried to cope with the intense heat that licked at his heels, as well as the broken shards of glass that now littered the floor.

Then he hit the wall.  
Pain struck through his chest as bricks and mortar failed to cope with the human bullet that now crashed through it and out into the world of . . . somewhere.

What seemed like an eternity passed before he opened his eyes to something beautiful.

Stars.

The cool chill of the night air swept across his face as his eyes soaked in every last shimmer of the beacons of light. The way they twinkled and disappeared as the clouds moved to block the light they emitted seemed like the greatest thing in the world.

That was before gravity exerted itself and told him that he was in fact, falling.

His heart seemed to burst in his chest as he held out his hands in what seemed like a useless gesture to push the earth away, as if somehow that was possible.  
He cried out, hoping that the ground would stop approaching before wincing as the sound made his throat feel like sand paper once more, causing him to momentarily forget the ground that was rapidly approaching.

He hit the asphalt a scant three seconds later.

He closed his eyes as he was sure that he would die, having barely escaped whatever he had been subjected to. Except, he didn't.  
Darkness gave way to light once more, revealing the crater at which he was the center. The ground had caved in beneath him, cracks and fissures evident some ten meters from the actual crater itself that he now resided in. He groaned, pain shooting up his right side as the impact had hit him hardest there, that was before he noticed the warm sensation in his lower chest.

He looked down to see a slowly expanding circle of crimson liquid on the ground below his chest as what looked like a spike protruded from it.

Then the voice spoke out again.

_Injury is minor, administering painkillers, continue away from here._

He didn't question it simply for the fact that he didn't feel anything except for the pain that covered his right side that now began to subside. His legs moved to support him once more as he began to trudge away from the building he had been held in.

_Breathe, just breathe and keep moving._

He limped on towards a nearby building for a reason that escaped him, its neon signs and freshly coated blue paint seeming to be the friendliest thing he could identify.  
Then the second explosion happened.

It must have been the remaining chemicals that had failed to ignite the first time or something else because the jet of flame that shot out from his escape window glowed a vibrant orange before morphing into a massive fireball. Pieces of plaster, glass and other building material flew and crashed into the ground him as the blast wave hit him a second later, carrying him off his feet and onto the asphalt once more.  
Around him, the few cars around screeched to a halt as their drivers quickly reversed to avoid the incoming debris.

* * *

A few blocks away, two figures coated in darkness turned their head towards the new source of light.

"Hey Kon, You see that?"

"Yeah, something big must have gone off to cause that! Hero time?"

"Hero time."

The two figures leapt from the factory rooftop they'd been perched on towards the orange blaze now consuming the nearby dockyard warehouse.

"Robin to team, we've got a massive explosion down at the docks, warehouse forty two! We need help for containment and search and rescue!"

"Aqualad here, I'm on my way."

* * *

Even with the supposed painkillers that were supposed to be helping him, he couldn't keep going.  
The blast had knocked him onto his back, forcing the spike that had lodged itself into his chest to be driven back into his chest, the blood now flowing liberally down his side to coat the road beneath his feet.

He propped himself besides one of the cars that the blast wave had overturned and sunk down onto the ground, gripping the spike now moist with his blood.  
His vision began to dull as in the distance he saw two figures approaching, one coated in red and black with a face obscured by a mask and the other wearing a black t-shirt and light blue jeans. There was something on his shirt, some kind of symbol; he couldn't make it out as his vision dipped out of focus again. When things came back into view, the smaller figure, the one in red and black, had spotted him and made a beeline for the overturned car he was resting against, to either help or hurt him.

* * *

"Kon! Over here, I got one that's hurt!"

He bent down on his knee to examine the damage, a protrusion from a piece of metal stuck in the guys chest, what was weird was how he wasn't wearing anything except for a pair of white pants. But that didn't matter right now, he had to patch the wound and save the guy from bleeding out.

"Kon!"

"I'm coming!"

"Hey, stay with me, you're doing a great job."

* * *

The alert drew his attention away from the file he'd just opened and towards the second screen to his right.  
He frowned as he read the details of what was happening in Happy Harbour. The frown deepened into an outright scowl as he reached for another series of keys.

"Clark."

"Hey, Bruce, what's up?"

"That building in Happy Harbour that we thought was a front for Cadmus. It just exploded."

"You want me to-"

"Yes."

"What about-"

"I'll be there a few minutes after you."

"And the te-"

"Already there."

"Got it."

* * *

The black and red figure couldn't have been more than fifteen years old. He sported a cape that was just a bit too long for his height and a yellow belt that he could only guess held some sort of equipment.  
He could feel the warmth of the guys hand even through the glove he was wearing, he traced around the wound to determine its severity as still more blood poured from it.

"Hey, it's gonna be ok, it's not lethal. Can you tell me your name?"

"I-I don't know." He admitted.

"Looks like you're in shock, you'll remember once this is fixed."

He reached down towards one of the pockets of his utility belt and pulled out what looked like a type of cloth before gently draping it around the spike wound.

"Take this."

He took the cloth from the figures hand and carefully covered across the bleeding area.

"I need you to put pressure around it, can you do that for me?"

He nodded in acknowledgment as his hands began to cover the area around the spike. He cried out as more pain erupted from the entry wound as he applied pressure to it.

"That's great, you're doing great, hold it like that for me ok? We can't pull it out, otherwise you could bleed out." His head scanned the surroundings for his partner who had moved to a car whose windshield had been demolished

"I need to quickly check for others, ok? Just keep pressure on that wound."

Another nod from him as the small figure moved towards nearby cars and broken storefronts to check for any more casualties.  
That's when he hears the voice again.  
_  
Extremis nervous sync complete. Armour online._

"Wh-what?"

_You must pull it out._

Now he contests the voice.

"Wh-what?" he repeats.

_Pull the spike out._

"Bu-bu- but he just said_-"_

You need to pull the spike out or you'll bleed to death.

"N-no, he said-"

_If you don't then the healing factor cannot close the wound. Removing it is the only option._

Reluctantly he released the pressure on the wound as the blood began to flow uninterrupted once more into a small pool to his side. His hands grasped around the spike, its surface slippery and warm from its crimson coating. Sure that he wouldn't slip, he began to pull.  
Immediately he cried out as the spike begins to move from its position between his ribs, sliding against the bone and various nerves as it made its exit.  
Pain cut through his head as his nervous system screamed for him to stop and let it rest, but he couldn't, he kept pulling.

* * *

They heard the cry in the distance. Robin was the first to turn his head towards the screams source as his eyes behind his mask widen in alarm.  
He muttered a curse as he began to sprint towards the overturned car.

"Kon! Keep looking for people in the building!"

His partner voiced his acknowledgment as he placed his finger to his ear.

"Robin here, we could really use your help about now Kaldur!"

"I'm three minutes away, hold on!"

* * *

With another heave, the spike flew free from his body, landing with a metallic clank on a nearby fire hydrant and vanishing behind a parked pickup truck. He let out a sigh of relief as the pain subsided to an aching numbness, no longer sharp or precise in agony.  
Then he saw the black and red figure again, his short black hair swayed as he slid towards him.

"What are you doing? I told you to put pressure on it! Not pull it-"

He stopped short in his sentence as he saw the blood from the wound cease flowing entirely.  
Then the flesh began to seal, finding the opposite side of where it had parted, it fused to form a long circular scab around the impalement point.

"-out. . . "

He reached for ear piece again, this time no longer with the helpful tone he had had before.

* * *

"Rob this isn't a warehouse. Warehouses don't have operating tables and blast proof doors."

A cold chill made its way down his spine as a chilling realisation swept over him.

"Kon, I need you here. Now!"

"Got it!"

* * *

He saw the black and red figure reach for something from his belt before revealing two small stick like objects. Both unfurled into longer, more slender versions in an instant, as their master shifted into a fighting stance.

"Who are you? What happened to that building?"

His voice wasn't meant to be threatening, just inquisitive and firm in terms of authority.

"Did you set that fire?" Then it became more serious.

"N-no I di-didn't It just happened-"

"Then why can you heal so quickly?"

"I don't know!"

_Detecting hostile. Activating armour sequence._

"What? No!"

"No what?" A hint of fear and anticipation crept through the red and black figure as he clenched his staff firm in his hands while his partner exited the burning building..

"Get away, get away now!" He started to feel things moving around his body, like the feeling of the stun gun except without causing him to go rigid.

_Initialised._

* * *

He took a step back as the figure in front of him keeled over in pain, clutching his chest before curling inwards with a scream. He saw Kon coming out of the building some fifty meters away before glancing back towards the figure.  
Then he truly got a shock.

* * *

_Commencing self defense protocols._

"Stop, stop!." Pain once again shot through his body as it started to glow a dark yellow.

From within his bone marrow, Nanites quickly rushed to fulfil their new orders.  
Two million pieces of material, the size of a grain of sand travelled through the tissue of his body in tiny hexagonal pieces, before aligning across his skin, creating millions of layers of coating across his body. Each connected with the other as the shapes began to form into different segments and components for the suit now starting to encase him.  
Servos and actuators, conductors and energy projectors, sensors and artificial muscle, all had interlocked to form an underlay of sorts. Each synced with each other before the second phase of the transformation took place. The tiny sand sized pieces of material then moved above their now connected cousins to form a solid wall of red and yellow above the more vulnerable components and skin of the host body.  
From the center of his chest, skin peeled back to allow some form of power source to emerge. It glowed a bright neon blue and white as it moved to connect with casing that had nearly finished forming across his chest.  
A metallic _Clunk_ signalled that it had connected before an electronic whine sounded. Across the newly formed armour, several sources of light flickered to life as the final components slid across his face to form a protective helmet.

Darkness.

Light.

A holographic display moved across his face as it was fed information from various external and internal cameras and sensors, each showing something different before the main display switched to the red and yellow figure, now slowly stepping backwards as his partner arrived at his side. Several points of weakness glowed red as well as a list of information including the figures name.  
Robin.  
Immediately afterwards, a model of the two weapons, now denoted as Eskrima sticks, popped up on screen, their internal components dissected by the suit like a frog in a laboratory experiment while flaws in the design were highlighted.

The suit then switched to highlight the figures partner. His name was highlighted as Superboy, a Metahuman that held the power of Superman and was marked as recently having escaped from a nearby Cadmus facility.

_Robin/Boy wonder identified. Threat level three._

It was then that the figure identified as Robin spoke to him.

"I don't know what you are but we aren't here to fight you, we just want to talk, that's all."

His voice equal parts sincere as well as intimidated by the sudden development of a potential civilian casualty into a Metahuman encased in an intimidating suit of power armour.

His partner motioned to grasp the suits shoulder in a friendly geture.  
That was to prove to be a mistake.

_ Class five Metahuman threat. Superboy. Engaging._

* * *

Robin watched as the gesture of co-operation that Kon had tried to convey turned the situation from potentially dangerous to outright disastrous.  
The suit grabbed his right hand, grasping it firmly in its metallic fingers as it twisted his whole arm to the left, simultaneously propelling its armoured fist straight into Superboy's face. The Meta cried out as yet another punch was delivered to his chest before the armoured figure twisted to the right, hurling him across the asphalt and through the window of a nearby store across the street.

He'd already started moving before the sound of Superboy's body breaking the stores glass windows rippled through the air. Plans ran through his head as he looked for any available weaknesses.

_Batarangs won't work against the chest plate, the back looks the same, maybe an explosive charge around the neck?_

He leapt through the air while his target had his back to him, his hands having already retrieved two disk shaped objects from his rear pockets. Quickly, he reached out to clamp both across the neck section of the armoured foe as his body flew above it, placing both around the base of the neck before tucking back into his chest and somersaulting towards the ground.  
He landed an instant later as the sound of plastic explosives detonating filled the air behind him and the wave of heat subsided just as quickly as it had appeared._  
_He quickly shifted around, wondering if the suit was still standing.

It was.

A cloud of smoke surrounded the suit as he tried to make out the shape of his quarry, only to duck to his left as a beam of light illuminated the center of the haze, before shooting out towards him.

* * *

_Damage negligible. Nanites moving to repair. Engaging foe R-1 with repulsors._

* * *

He ducked and dived as still more beams shot out, arcing all around and filling the air with the smell of ozone.  
He quickly ducked behind a shipping container as the latest blast tore through his Kevlar coated cape.

_If he can do that to the cape then I'd probably like to avoid getting hit in the chest._

He glanced over to the ruined storefront in time to see Kon rushing out towards the suit, both hands clenched into fists as he moved to avenge the surprise attack he'd suffered earlier.

* * *

_Target S-1 detected, countering._

He didn't even have time to object as he leaned backwards, narrowly avoiding the incoming fist of Superboy that was meant for his face. His right arm grabbed the still outstretched hand of Superboy, pulling himself upwards in time to catch the second fist with his left hand. A small shockwave erupted as the momentum of the punch was absorbed by the armoured hand, nullifying its velocity to a dead standstill as the two beings competed in an impromptu match of strength.

_Targets strength within manageable parameters. Repel._

He found his legs starting to move forward as the armour moved to crush Superboy into the pavement, each step cause the Meta to be pushed back into the ground, refusing to relinquish an inch of distance between them.  
He took three steps forward before he felt his hands pulled forward, causing the helmet his head was adorned with to connect with his opposite number.  
There was a loud metallic _Clunk_ as both heads met, but only he recoiled from the impact, staggering backwards in time see Superboy's fist connect with his chest plating.

* * *

Robin saw the suit fly backwards through a parked van and into a nearby forklift; sparks flew as the metal figure slid across the ground before coming to a stop face down on the ground some fifty meters away.  
He then saw both of its arms push it back off the ground, in time to see an airborne Superboy leaping in to crush the suit. He expected it to be crushed under the meta's mass and momentum, its occupant left with broken bones and at least a concussion.

But that wasn't what happened.

It just sat there as the light in its chest glowed even brighter, propelling a shot of energy larger but still similar to the ones he'd been shot with, directly at his partners incoming form.  
It impacted square in his chest, stopping his descent cold before pushing him backwards into the ground below. He didn't need to use the magnification function in his mask to see the red S symbol that usually adorned his black shirt had been burnt away.

That was the moment his ear piece crackled to life.

"Robin, it's Kaldur, I'm about a minute out."

* * *

_Chest Beam recharging. Subject Four, we must fight as a team._

The previous actions of the duo had shaken the claim that these were people to trust, the fifty meters he'd been propelled by the Meta's punch seeming to confirm that weren't friendly individuals.

"Ok, ok, let's do it."

He could see the figure called Superboy rising from the crater he had just created, the front half of his shirt almost completely scorched and torn from the Chest Beam and the tiniest trickle of blood escaped the side of his mouth. His facial expressions, however, showed that he was far from finished.

_Flight mode commencing._

"Wait, what?"

His form was suddenly jolted forward as the foot section of his armour exploded, or to be more precise, activated several miniature boosters, rocketing him forward towards his quarry at a pace he hadn't anticipated.  
He quickly came to terms with his situation before righting himself, making a beeline straight for the Meta as the fifty meters between them suddenly became twenty and then ten. With a thought of control he didn't know he had, he brought his chest upwards via the repulsors mounted on his hands, before cutting out the power of his boots and bringing his right leg forward.  
The armoured limb crashed square into the super powered being's chest, knocking him off his feet and back through several meters of car, building, and the odd crate of fish before coming to a stop some one hundred meters away.

He paused as took a moment to compose himself and take in what just happened. then he spoke to the voice.

"Let me talk to him."

_Activating external speakers._

"I don't want to fight you, I just want to be left alone!"

The wreck of material that Superboy resided in didn't move, his form still except for the steady rhythmic rising and falling of his chest.

_It appears that he has been temporarily incapacitated._

"What about the other-"

A dull thud sounded on as he felt something hit the bottom of his legs, before Robin slid between the space between his legs and towards the fallen Meta. He didn't have time to question it or respond as two explosions tore at the armour around his ankles, nearly knocking him backwards as his feet were propelled forward with the blast the explosives created created. At the same time, two slender metallic objects lodged themselves in the joints between his shoulders. Then he heard the beeping sound.  
Two seconds later, both exploded, knocking him back a step and serving to be more of an annoyance rather than a serious attempt to stop him.

_Ignore and engage._

* * *

He ran as fast as his legs could carry him towards the wreckage that surrounded Superboy.  
Debris was scattered all around, wiring, broken pieces of glass and brick as well as the odd dead fish all littered the area around the incapacitated hero.  
He slid quickly towards his fallen comrade checking for signs of life after the hit he'd just taken.  
Thankfully, his friend held out his hand to stop him.

"That guy hits hard." Was the simple statement.

"I take it you're not feeling the aster?" He chuckled.

"Not. One. Bit."

He lifted his finger once more to his ear in the hope that his team mate had finally arrived, he stopped when he saw that he'd got his answer.

* * *

_New hostile detected. Recommend-_

The voice was cut off as a giant wave of water hit him dead in the chest, knocking him back and enclosing him in a cocoon of the liquid some five feet off the ground.  
Then the water turned to ice.  
He stopped floating and hit the ground hard, the ice however, remained intact, rendering him unable to move his arms or legs. He could see through the refracted view of the now solid water the view of another figure, one with dark skin and short cropped hair, with what looked like several tattoos across his arms and shoulders except they were glowing.

_Hostile Identified. Aqualad. Threat level four. Retaliating._

* * *

He saw his newly arrived teammate approach them from the edge of the dock, both of his Water-Bearers firmly in hand as he moved to assess the damage to his compatriots.

"Are you alright?" he asked simply.

"Yeah, we're fine, but that things kicking the crap out of us and nothing we seem to hit it with does anything."From behind him he heard the voice of Kon despite the grogginess that was clearly evident in his throat.

"Give me a minute, I'll help you with-"

His sentence was cut-off as the cocoon of ice that had held their foe in check thus far shattered in a blaze of light, sending shards flying in all directions. They then saw the figure inside bracing himself against the ground, steadily rising to face them again.

* * *

_Combined threat level; tolerable._

He rose from his kneeling position, the repulsors on his arms and chest still glowing after shattering the ice that had imprisoned him for that brief period of time.  
He motioned his head towards the three heroes which now adopted fighting stances in anticipation of yet more violence.

_You must engage, Subject Four._

"Wait, I want to talk to them."

_That is not advisable. Our window of attack is closing._

"Let me talk to them!" He bellowed from within the suit.

_External speakers activated._

"I- I don't know what you want, but if you think I'm going back into that . . . place, then you're sorely mistaken."

One of them, the shorter one, Robin, replied first.

"We don't know what was in there, but we aren't a part of it, if you stop attacking then we'll do the same."

"How do I know I can trust you?"

"You don't." The cold statement hung in the air as a tense standoff began developing.

* * *

"Bruce, are you seeing this?"

"Every last detail."

"Shall we go in together? Defuse whatever's happening?"

"I'm deploying now."

The seatbelt fastening him in place in the oil black jet peeled away along with the seat that it was attached to. The floor opened a split second later, and out of it flew a spectre gliding on black wings, his friend right behind him.

* * *

His head ached as the voice screamed at him to attack, that the chances of survival were diminishing with each passing second. He tried to phase it out it before a warning he couldn't ignore blared in his head.

_Detecting new combatants, eight o'clock high; scanning._

He took his eyes off the three musketeers in front of him and angled his head towards the night sky. A rapidly expanding shape grew to blot out the twinkle of the stars, a giant bat shaped object hurtling downwards towards him, followed closely behind was another shape, the bright blue and red of his cape and costume reflecting the light of the night sky above.  
The next instant, they landed. One cloaked in darkness, the other cloaked in red.

_Warning, new contact marked S-2, Superman, threat level eight. Situation deteriorating._

Images leapt forth in his mind as memories he didn't know he had flashed before his eyes. A man, the same as the one in front of him was doing impossible deeds. Keeping a bridge from collapsing, welding a hole in a ship closed with heat vision and other extraordinary acts.

_Warning, new contact marked B-1, Batman, threat level nine, situation untenable. Recommend retreat._

He turned to face his original three foes, all still in a fighting stance, although with surprise evident across their face as they too, took in the sight of their reinforcements.

"You said you weren't going to put me back, you promised!"

Again the one called Robin replied before the others.

"We aren't!"

"Then why'd you call them in?" He pointed an accusatory finger at the new arrivals

"Why else would they be here?" He demanded.

Before they could reply, he was already back pedalling away from the newly arrived duo, the one called Superman extending an arm to try and prevent him from retreating.

"No!"

The Boosters implanted in his boots fired, kicking up dust and debris as he shot upwards and away from the dockyard. His boots glowed a bright blue as he continued upwards and away, only to look down and see another figure, Superman, not far behind.

"Suit, get me away from here, fast!"

_Moving to maximum power._

A heartbeat later, he shot towards the ocean, passing clouds as if they were an afterthought to the massive amount of speed he now exerted in his flight.  
A scant few seconds later a huge boom echoed around him as the barrier to supersonic flight faltered and broke before his rapid advance.

* * *

"Bruce, this guys fast, really fast."

"Try to reason with him, bring him back here if you can."

"Got it, see you soon."

* * *

_Velocity is now two miles per second and climbing. Contact S-2 is still closing._

He panicked as he rolled his body so that his chest was facing skyward and aimed the hand mounted repulsors towards the Man of Steel.  
Beams of light shot towards his pursuer as his palms glowed and discharged the built up energy into a weaponised form. His pursuer proved wily as he avoided the beams with casual ease, all the while closing the distance between the two. He saw the minimal effect the repulsors were having and instead opted for a policy of evasive maneuvering, ducking and swerving in an attempt to do something, anything, to avoid being caught and sent back to the tomb he'd woken up in.

_Velocity is now three miles per second, Subject Four._

He could feel the tug of G forces pull at his face and extremities as the dampening effect of the armour failed to keep pace with the spectacular amount of acceleration he was now experiencing.  
Then he felt something clasp on to his left leg. And pull.  
His rate of acceleration went into the negatives as the hand around his leg was joined by another and both slowly worked their way upwards towards his waist, slowing both down to a standstill over a period around twenty seconds.  
He then found himself in a bear hug of sorts as two emerald blue eyes rose to meet his.  
They didn't harbour the expected feeling of anger or determination, but instead exhibited the look of a pleading man they lined up directly towards the eye slits of the helmet he wore.  
Then he spoke.

"I don't know who you are or what happened to you, but I swear to you, I'm not going to hurt you. We want to help."

_ Warning, power levels showing rapid depletion, shutting down to avoid catastrophic system failure._

As his display went dark, he could only mouth a single sentence.

"I don't want to go back."

* * *

**Five minutes later**

He could see the humanoid shape of Superman return to the docks where they lay waiting.  
While he had been gone, his mentor had asked what had occurred to spark the incident and he, along with the others had told him all they knew. The fire, the impaled civilian, the freakishly fast healing and the transformation of what looked to be an innocent bystander in the wrong place at the wrong time into a destructive suit of armoured plating and energy weapons.  
The silhouette of Superman drew closer and he could see the foe they'd been grappling with in his arms, apparently powered down which wouldn't be surprising given the fact that he'd been pursued by the most powerful being on the planet.  
But as he got closer he couldn't help but feel a sense of sadness, the scene looked like something out of a medieval painting, a fallen brother carried from the field of battle after the bloody slaughter had ended.  
That was when they landed on the dock as the sound of sirens drew ever closer towards them.

"He's still alive but I don't know for how much longer, he needs medical attention immediately."

His cloaked companion was the one to respond first.

"Take him back to Mount Justice, the infirmary there should be able to help as well as give us an idea of who, and what, he is."

It was then that the armoured suit began to shine the bright yellow it originally had when it first transformed. Segments of the armour peeled away as the underlying layers retreated into their sub dermal dwellings and out of view. It was quick, less than fifteen seconds and far less intimidating than the first time he'd seen it occur.

That was when the Man of Steel spoke.

"My God, he's just a kid."

* * *

So this is something new that I cooked up, having recently watched Iron man 3. I wondered, what would it be like to merge some of the marvel heroes with both their flaws and strengths into one character, all the while incorporating new elements into the mix. All courtesy of your friendly neighbourhood Cadmus, of course.  
Stick around if you want to see more of our new friend and how he deals with the brave new world.  
Also, the story's set just before episode eight of season one, in case you were wondering.


	2. Revival

**_Two years earlier_**

The static of the nearby television set crackled throughout the tiny room as its sole occupant searched through his work desk for the last few files that he would need for the man waiting patiently at the room's doorway.  
His hand weaved through the various different files located in the desks drawer before noticing the badge that denoted the manila envelope he sought.

It was rather plain in appearance. It was uniform in colour with only a few lines of test denoting the title of its contents and the badge on its upper left corner. The badge displayed an inner clump of circles, not unlike the structure of a flowers petals branching outwards while another circle surrounded the clump.  
Finally, underneath that ran two parallel black bars that skewed downwards before they straightened outwards once more.  
The blonde, fair faced man that had been sorting through the files smiled widely as he saw the badge. He'd found what his partner had sought.

He covered the distance between the doorway and his desk in two large bounds before outstretching his hand to gift the folder to his partner.  
The ashen faced man righted himself from the comfortable lean he'd been enjoying as his hands felt the texture of the thick paper across his palms. Without hesitation he flicked through the contents before stopping at one particular page. It contained a picture of a man enlisted in the Washington state contingent of the National Guard. He sported crisp eyes the colour of emerald green with coldness that seemed to be reflective of the rest of his features and a closely cropped head of brown hair. Next to his picture lay the details of his service, as well as things that shouldn't have been there.

His name was Jake Norman a thirty two year old lieutenant and father of two. Blood type read as O negative while his service record indicated he had two years in Afghanistan before being placed with his current unit.  
All in all, his record would be entirely unremarkable if it weren't for the genetic anomaly present in his DNA that had been brought to their attention some three weeks earlier.

"Are you sure he's what we need?" The burly figure clasped the folder under his arm as he made a mental note to study the rest of it in private.

"Positive. A sample from him is exactly what we need." He pointed a finger at the folder underneath his partners arm before continuing. "And once you've acquired said sample, delete the source material."

That caused a smirk to appear across the burly figures face.

"Business as usual."

* * *

**_September 1st. Happy Harbour, Rhode Island_**

"He's not human" The three words hung in the air as two of the most powerful beings on the planet shifted their gaze towards their companion.

"What?" The man whose armour displayed the mighty S symbol of the Man of Steel was quick to object; he'd seen the skeletal structure of the boy during his pursuit above the ocean and it was definitely not alien in appearance.

"Not technically. His baseline genetic code still corresponds correctly with normal samples but that's where the similarities end."

"Show me." A data feed detailing the various different sections of their new arrival made their way onto the massive monitor. Heart rate, blood type, DNA strands, all were arrayed for easy analysis.

"His physiology is different. His organs are more robust and efficient, his skin is capable of withstanding a grenade and his blood stream is soaked in Nanites."

"What about that armour of his?" He quizzed.

"It's stored in the hollow of his bones. The material appears to be comprised of neurokinetic user-controlled morphologic nanoparticle bundles that shrink down to microscopic levels, in other words, he's got building blocks underneath his skin ready to form into pretty much anything he needs at a moment's notice."

He then motioned towards the center section of the chest scan, it glowed blue in a spherical circle as thousands of tiny lines originating from it branched out towards the different section of displayed body.

"It's all powered by that." He gestured towards the bright blue sphere at the center of the body scan.

"A reactor of some kind."

"Exactly. The design appears to be constructed with Nth metal while the rest of his armour is an Nth metal alloy, which would explain the healing factor and mass manipulation we saw, though I still can't identify the actual generator."  
Nth metal originated from the world of Thanagar, homeworld of both Hawkman and Hawkwoman, and was considered extremely difficult to obtain on Earth.

"Do we even have anything capable of-"

"No, and neither should they. The tech is too far advanced to have been built on Earth." He stated confidently.

"What about LexCorp? They could-"

"I check LexCorp's company server every twenty four hours and Luthor's private server every two. If it is from them, then they've done a far better job at hiding it than normal." LexCorp was one of the world's biggest companies in the field of science, particularly, genetic engineering and robotics, though they still lagged somewhat behind Wayne Industries in terms of economic capital.

"Bruce, when I caught him, I could swear I heard fear in his voice. He seemed terrified of going back into that place."

"Considering what we found in there, I'm not surprised."

"So what happens with him now?"

"I've called J'onn in to look through his memories, see if we can find out more about him, but given what they intended to do to him, to turn him into, I don't think we'll find much."

The door chimed and both noticed the smaller figure that had just entered the room.

"Dick, what are you doing here?" The new figure's mentor inquired.

"What? I can't come down to see the new guy? I wanted to get a better look at who kicked our butts at the docks." The bulletproof viewing panel gave a clear look down towards the one and only occupant currently residing in the medbay.  
It, saddened him, to see the figure at rest there hooked up to the various machines currently working to keep him alive. "Is he gonna be ok?"

"His body was starved of nutrients and had lost a lot of blood by the time we were able to stabilise him." His mentor turned towards the monitor displaying the patient's vital signs before turning back towards his protégé "He'll pull through, most likely sooner, rather than later."

The Dark Knight also moved to the wall viewing panel and looked into the dark green room where the person responsible for the aforementioned butt kicking lay on an operating table, hooked up to various IV's and monitoring machines.

"What about that suit of his? We haven't seen anything like it before, and if they've got more..."

"We won't know anything more until J'onn gets here. Speaking of which-"

The sound of the base computer echoed through the room, courtesy of the roof mounted speakers before the rumble of the caves Zeta Tube teleporters boomed in the central hall..

"_Recognised. Martian Manhunter. Zero seven."_

"Right on time."

**_Three minutes later_**

It was like a bad dream. The dull haze associated with drifting in and out of consciousness was back as well as the familiar feel of restraints. But the pain wasn't.  
He could hear the sound of beeping, most likely a heart monitor somewhere nearby attached to his chest and the feeling of protruding needles in the veins of his arms.

Darkness.

Light.

The chime of a nearby door opening rang in his ear as his eyes cut through the haze, allowing the light of the roof mounted above to reveal the rest of the room before him.  
It was darker than he thought it would be. The roof curved into a dome shape before flattening out at the center and the walls alternated between smoothed out bedrock and metallic support beams.  
He panned down to see the various different medical machines that filled the room, as well as the various tubes, containers and computers that complimented the various machines they were stationed next to before turning to the door.

There, in the doorway, stood a man. He wore a black business suit with a white shirt and red tie to compliment his appearance. His skin was dark and matched the colour of his eyes while the smile on his face exhibited a welcoming feeling.

_Warning. Subject is not human._

He suppressed the urge to frown as his new companion slowly walked towards him in as calm a manner as possible, not knowing his disguise had failed.

Then he spoke.

"Greetings." He moved to bow briefly before continuing "My name is John Jones, I have been brought here to assist you in your recovery." His voice harboured a thick accent that he couldn't identify, though his overall tone was sincere.

"Take off your mask."

"I'm sorry?"

"You're not human, it's just a disguise. If you're here to kill me then get on with it." He said with annoyance clearly present in his tone.

"I am not here to kill you, I merely believed that showing you my true form would not be the best way to introduce myself."

"Try me." He challenged.

"Very well."

The well fit business suit spiralled and twisted as it changed from black to a combination of red, black and blue while its wearer's facial features morphed to become more pronounced and angular. His skin continued the morphing process from a dark brown to a pine green with the long sleeves of the suit fitting to become skin-tight. His eyes changed as well, the pupils and irises merging into an oval pool of red.  
Finally, a blue and red cape unfurled towards the figures feet as golden buckles formed into a symmetrical set on either side of his chest.

_Identified. Martian Manhunter._

"I hope this is not too unsettling." He seemed almost embarrassed at the revelation of his true form to the wary stranger.

"I've seen worse."

_Wait, have I?  
_

"Interesting. Before we continue, I must ask, do you have a name?"

"I-the suit, it calls me Subject Four." He replied a little more hesitantly than he'd liked. He hadn't even known there was an outside world until a few hours ago.

"I see. And what of you? What do you call yourself?" Now that was an interesting question. Thought to be fair, he hadn't really thought about such a trivial thing in the time he'd been free.

"I-I don't know."

"Ah, I see. I take it that that applies to the rest of your memory?"

"What do you want?" He didn't like the implication of the question. Mainly due to it being one hundred percent accurate.

"You escaped from a Cadmus facility, an organisation we've known to utilise genetic manipulation and various other scientific methods to produce different kinds of weapons. I believe you met one of them, Superboy, in your escape."

"We didn't exactly get the chance to talk before he decided to attack me."

"It was not meant to incite violence, but I understand how you could have been confused. Though that brings me to why I'm here. I am here to help you, if you will allow it."

"The restraints were very convincing of that." He heaved against them for emphasis.

"It was deemed a necessary precaution given your dramatic first impression, though I don't believe you wish to attack me. Would you like me to remove them?"

"I-Please."

The Martian covered the distance between the door and the elevated operating table towards the new arrivals right side, keying in a code combination into the side mounted computer. A brief moment later, and the metal restraints clicked in unison, before retreating into the table itself.

"Thanks." His wrists still ached from the strain he'd placed on them when he broke the other table's restraints. "Are you usually this quick to trust people who attack you?"

"Your actions were only in defense of yourself against a perceived threat. It is not something worth holding a grudge over." His voice was still as sincere as when he had been in human form which helped to add credibility to his words.

"There is another matter I must speak to you about. I wish to read your mind, to see if I can help you remember anything of your past and where you came from, to see if you have a name."

There was a silence as he considered the aliens proposal. Did he really want another voice prodding and poking away in his brain and whatever memories he had? He didn't like the prospect of it.

_Though, a name would be nice._

"You can you find me a name?" he asked optimistically.

"I cannot guarantee anything regarding what we will find in your mind, but I promise to try."

A few very long seconds passed as he pondered whether he wanted to know about anything before the operation; If they had done anything else to him that could be considered barbaric.

"I don't know if you'll like what you see but if you think it will help, then go ahead."

"Very well."

The Manhunter moved so that he stood over the operating table, casting a shadow over the young man before him as his palms settled on his temples.  
His eyes flashed white, before the world went dark.

* * *

_Light._

_So much light._

_The world had been transformed into a sphere of crackling green energy. Lightning flashed all around as a building that looked the same as the one he'd broken out of just a few hours ago appeared in the distance._

_It covered what must have been a thousand meters of distance in three seconds before stopping a few feet in front of him._  
_He lowered the arms he'd held in front of his after anticipating being crushed as the Manhunter materialised at the building's entrance._

_"This is the only location I could isolate from your memories and likely holds the answers to your past within."_

_He gestured towards the now glowing green door, calling for his friend to venture inside._

_He moved forward, through the door and out into a replica of the hallway he had ventured through during his escape from the Cadmus building._  
_A chill ran down his spine as he saw the hole he'd made using the security guards as projectiles, causing him to step back._

_"It is alright, nothing in here can harm you as long as I am here."_  
_The Martian placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder, allowing him to release the breath he'd been holding._

_They started moving again, passing the guard bodies as they lay where he'd last seen them, their faces constantly shifting and distorting._

_"What's wrong with them?"_

_"In your haste to escape the facility, you failed to get a good look at their facial features, so your mind is conflicted on what to portray, hence the distortion."_

_Not creepy at all._

_They moved past the bodies, venturing towards a series of three identical doors at the opposite end of the hallway. Something was wrong; this wasn't how he remembered it. There weren't any doors here when he'd escaped; it had all been a wall section with his room branching off to the left. His curiosity caused his hand to move towards the handle of the middle door, pushing forward and causing it to open and reveal a room he hadn't seen before._

_It was in the shape of a rectangle with several desks of computer monitors and holographic displays littered all around while the entire room bathed in ambient blue lighting. A small pod lay in the center, covered in some form of mist with the dark silhouette of something vaguely humanoid residing within. At the base of the pod were several wires leading to various different machines, all showing static on the various monitors that they sported._

_Another door to the room opened across from the pair and two figures came through._  
_A man and a woman, both holding manila coloured files and in the case of the latter, a communication device in her right ear._  
_They were arguing about something that he couldn't quite make out, it sounded like gibberish or some language that he couldn't identify, almost like they were talking with their hands over their mouths._

_The pair ventured closer to the pod and slowly but surely, the sounds became understandable, as snippets of the conversation shifted in and out of intelligibleness._  
_The woman was the first to be heard speaking English._

_"What is the status of the armour, Doctor?" She had been flicking through several pages of the folder she carried as she directed her query towards her compatriot._

_"The design and weapon systems are sound, it's just the matter of binding it to the user that remains the problem."_

_"We're working on that." She paused as she ran her eyes up and down the length of the pod as she resisted the urge to wipe away the misty coating. "You'll get a suitable set of candidates for Project Atlas in the near future. In the meantime, I want you to make sure the suit is compatible with our other project."_

_"Yes Ma'am."_

_Anything more that the duo said devolved back into unintelligible bickering as they continued out of sight._  
_He was confused, the armour was here but any sign of him was nowhere to be found._  
_But the woman, her voice, the similarities were too strong to deny._  
_He turned to the Martian behind him, anger growing in his gut._

_"I know her, she was in the room when I woke up, though I don't remember being here."_

_"It appears that your mind plays host to memories that are not your own, there is someone else present in your subconscious."_

_He whispered to himself as he already knew the answer._

_"The suit."_

_"Yes, your armour appears to be at least somewhat sentient. That would explain why you have these memories, they appear to have merged with your own."_

_For once the voice was silent, presumably listening and watching as the two beings ventured through the conundrum of memories._

_"Come, we have seen all there is to see here."_

_They turned back and journeyed through the door, only to find the other two doors had shifted towards the opposite side of the corridor, any adjoining exits having vanished to be replaced with solid wall. If the Martian was surprised, he didn't show it._

_The two doors stood side by side, no differences notable in their plain grey form._  
_He decided on the left one, purely due to the fact that he wanted to leave the building as fast as possible and wasn't in the mood to pick a favourite._  
_It opened into another room, this time the walls were not the familiar grey and black as the rest of the facility. They appeared organic, like what the inside of an artery would look like to a surgical microscope. Various protrusions were visible on the roof and lower section of the walls, small pods resembling oversized light bulbs with some form of liquid swirling inside their cores._

_"Where are we?"_

_"It resembles the Cadmus facility we investigated a few weeks ago, though I did not see this portion of the facility myself. I-"_

_He stopped as he saw the two figures of the room they had previously visited appeared behind them, talking once again in gibberish._  
_Like before, the gibberish morphed into English as they moved towards a section of the wall, where the organic matter began to swirl and fold before an oval shaped container emerged in a hiss of white steam._  
_If the gas that steamed at their feet was in any way hot, they didn't show it._  
_Then the woman gestured to silence the doctor, before speaking herself._

_"I don't care about the moral implications of the project, Doctor; all I care about is whether it will work."_

_"The serum infusions will work if the host's genetic material contains the required properties we need but I'd still wa-"_

_"All I need to know is, will it perform?"_

_"Yes."_

_"Then-" She gestured to several small creatures suspended in pods the size of oversized light bulbs as she continued "-Get the Genomorphs teaching him what he needs to know, double check to make sure everything about his genetic structure matches the requirements and move him to the secondary facility for the melding procedures."_

_"But-"_

_"This is not up for debate; we've wasted enough time, resources and energy as is to sit around idling while our enemies grow more numerous. Schedule the operations for Monday through Friday."_

_"Yes, Ma'am."_

_Unlike before, the room and two figures from his memories vanished as the oval container retreated back into the wall section to the sound of hissing vapour and moving metallic machinery._  
_Instead they found themselves back in the corridor, facing directly at the last remaining door._

_"I don't understand, why didn't the room stay the same as the last one, and how'd we end up here?"_

_"That pod must have contained your body, when it retracted; it cut off any audible or visual input to your brain, causing you to only remember darkness from that point forward."_

_The prospect of being stuck in a pod to be someone's pet science experiment fuelled the uneasy feeling slowly creeping its way through his body. He didn't wish that kind of fate upon anyone, but the fact that he had been subjected to it made the desire to leave all the more potent._

_"I was . . . in that?"_

_"It would appear so."_  
_The Martian had seen the same reaction from another person whose mind he'd had to sift through. Someone he'd had once called a friend._

_"Let's just get this over with."_

_"Very well."_

_The final door slid open without being prompted into a small and narrow elevated room. It contained only a single monitor with an adjoining microphone. Both were situated behind a massive pane of glass that overlooked an operating room. The smell of antiseptic was present even through the heavy duty filters of the rectangular room, causing him to recoil backwards as a sickening feeling of familiarity travelled through him._

_"I don't need to see this."_

_"How do you know?"_

_"Because this happened right before you found me."_

_"Leaving would be unwise, even if you recall experiencing this memory, there may be things that you missed while escaping. Now is the best time to confront these memories, for as time goes on, they become clouded as new ones are created."_

_He struggled to contain the emotion now spilling out of his eyes as he begged the Martian to accept his request._

_"Please."_

_"Very well then. We will leave."_

_The Martians eyes glowed white once more, and the world around them began to dissolve into darkness._

_Almost._

_A white beam shot across the hallway towards the alien, crackling with lightning that spiralled around a beam of pure energy, hitting the Martian square in the chest._  
_He fell backwards, yelling in pain as the beam washed over the center mass of his body and hurled him into the back wall of the hallway._

_He spun around towards the source of the beam that had hurt his guide before ducking behind a corner to avoid any more shots._  
_That was then the voice spoke for the first time since the exploration of his mind had begun._  
_But it wasn't in projected body's ear like it always was, it was coming from somewhere distant and an instant later, he knew the answer._

_**"Intruders will not be tolerated."**_

_The state of the situation became painfully clear as he realised that he was alone and defenceless against the Voice, who he saw that had donned the projection of his suit._

_Its suit._  
_Behind him, he heard the efforts of the Manhunter as he tried to stand and wondered if that was even a sign that he was ok in the dream world they had suddenly found themselves trapped in._

_**"Subject Four, state your intentions."**_

_He didn't bother answering the question as his hand suddenly found itself clutching a long cylindrical canister. It was round and black and appearance with a pin on the top similar to a grenade. He briefly wondered how it had appeared in his hand, but he stopped as all he knew was that he needed to do something._  
_Adrenaline coursed through his veins as he rushed forward, pulling the grenades pin and lobbing it towards the hostile projection before diving towards the fallen alien._  
_Several beams shot out from the suit as it attempted to swat the grenade out of the sky, before it exploded some five feet away from the apparition._  
_The momentary distraction was all he required as he grasped the alien by his coat and shook him into awareness._

_"Send us back! Send us back now!"_

_The alien must have been conscious as his eyes glowed white once more and the world truly shrunk and vanished before his eyes._

_Darkness._

_Light._

* * *

His eyes flickered open as the same roof mounted light he'd seen when he'd first awoken now shone in his eyes once more.  
A painful throbbing in his head reminded him of the ordeal he'd just went through as his head swivelled towards back towards the door subconsciously while his hand moved to soothe his aching head.  
J'onn was slowly beginning to stand up as his own hand clutched his green cranium.  
The chime of the door stopped them from discussing what had happened, as three figures rushed through towards them. All three were the ones he'd met before, down at the docks where he'd fought to survive and escape the now defunct Cadmus building.  
The Batman, the Superman. Robin.

"What happened?" Robin was the one to ask the obvious question at the unsteady duo.

"His mind. It was guarded by an entity I did not detect. It nearly incapacitated both of us, before we were able to return here."

"It was my armour. It attacked us, calling us intruders." He decided then and there to not challenge his subconscious in a battle of strength anytime soon.

"Did you learn anything about who he is and what Cadmus did to him?" Batman asked.

"No, I believe him to be another Cadmus clone project, only he appears to have been one of the projects they invested the most energy into. That armour is one example."

"Interesting."

"We did discover one thing, however. His name. He is called Atlas."

All four figures looked to him in unison before Batman spoke.

"Atlas, your recovery isn't yet complete. For the time being the Cave will be your home until you're ready to make a decision regarding what you want to do with the rest of your life."

"You mean he gets to be part of the team? Sweet!" The Boy wonder didn't need to hide the excitement in his voice as the potential prospects of working with Atlas ran through his head.

"_That_ is still to be decided, we don't know what the full capabilities."

"Aren't you afraid that I'm some Cadmus sleeper agent or something?"

"I already checked your body for any hidden transmissions emanating from you or your suit and found none. In the meantime I have a lead I need to pursue, Robin can show you to your room while Red Tornado will make sure you have access to the caves systems."  
He leaned in closer towards Atlas and whispered in his ear. "Besides, why do you think I'm leaving you here in a secure facility with a team of my individuals who are more than capable of keeping you here?"

He had to appreciate the cleverness of it, this place was meant to be his home just as much as a holding cell.

_Chances of escape are estimated to be thirty three percent given the current roster of Metahumans present at this facility._

"You're leaving just like that? Can't you stay an-"

"I have League business to attend to with Superman, you can take care of our new guest." He didn't wait for any further retorts as he turned and made his way through the Medbay's door, leaving his red faced partner to deal with his new friend.

"Uhh hi." He held out his hand towards the new arrival who only returned a puzzled look.

"Oh, I guess you weren't taught this but this is what we call a handshake, you take my hand and I take yours and then we, ah, well, shake."

"What for?"

"It signifies trust between two people."

"I..see."

He took Robins hand in a firm grip before both shook.

"I'm Robin."

"I guess I'm Atlas."

The smaller figure chuckled at the remark before continuing.

"Come on, you gotta meet the rest of the team!"

* * *

**_Three Minutes Later_**

He'd gotten a pair of clothes that had been held in storage for whatever reason would warrant their use and had made his way down to the central chamber of the Cave. He'd been impressed with how big it was, the various hallways and room that had been carved out of solid rock would have taken at least a few years for ordinary human contractors. But no one present in the room was quite normal in any sense of the word, nor were all of them human.  
They'd been recuperating after the fight that he'd put up downtown, the Superboy having gotten a new shirt to replace the one that'd been scorched while Aqualad had replenished the supply of water in his backpack. All of them viewed him with some form of hesitation and disbelief as he trudged down the steps from the hallway leading towards the living quarters and down towards the center of the chamber.

_Warning. Potentially hostile Metahuman's present._

He whispered for the suit to stay hidden as he came to a stop besides Robin who had been explaining who and what he was for the past five minutes while Red Tornado had gotten him the clothes he now wore. The red and yellow figure turned to him as he made his way to introduce him to the rest of his comrades.

"Ahh, Hi." Was all he could manage as the suit quickly identified the pattern the pattern Kid Flash was travelling in as he whizzed by him.

"This is the guy who kicked your butts?" He moved so fast that he was practically a blur in-between the times he stopped to poke and prod the new arrival like he was some kind of test subject. "He looks tough but for all three of you?" He kept analysing Atlas for the next few seconds before stopping in front of him and extended his hand.

"Kid Flash, at your service!" Atlas took his hand in his and repeated the gesture he'd performed with Robin a few minutes earlier. "I'm Atlas, it's . . . nice meeting you."

"So what do you do for fun? You like pizza? I love pizza, and hotdogs and cake! Pretty much anything you can eat really!" His words were moving so fast that it was becoming difficult to keep up with what he was saying.

"I . . . ahh-"

"Of course you like those things, man I'm an idiot!"

He could have hugged Robin as he put a hand on the speedsters shoulder and gestured for him to slow down.

"Oh right, yeah, damn!"

The dark skinned figure that stood behind the two made his way through the gap between the two conversing members of his team and extended his hand towards Atlas.

"I am Aqualad, but I go by the name of Kaldur, the leader of this team." He got a closer look at the man he'd battled briefly just a few hours before. His hair was a closely cropped shade of blonde while his eyes were the colour of ocean green. Several slits that he could only assume were gills were present around his neck while the rest of his body was lean and muscled and adorned with several tattoos that spiralled down his arms. His tone was warm but his intent was clear. He was in charge and he would be the one giving the orders.

He accepted the gesture while making sure his grip was just a bit more firm than the other two he'd used on Robin and Kid Flash.

"Sorry about earlier, with the whole attacking you and everything."

"One must work swiftly to develop solutions to unknown threats, though I hope I needn't have to do so again when it comes to you."

"Likewise."

Both quickly realised that they had been shaking the other's hand for a period of time that would look strange to the onlookers present in the chamber and hastily recalled their arms to their sides.  
Kaldur took a step back and extended his arm to point towards the other members of the team arrayed in front of him.  
"This is the rest of our team." He pointed his hand towards each of the remaining heroes.

"This is Miss Martian." She was similar in appearance to the Martian who'd taken him on a jaunt through his booby trapped subconscious. Her hair was a long brunette colour with a smaller, yet nearly identical cape wrapped around a white shirt that was adorned with a red X.

"Please, call me M'gann." He could tell that she was bubbly and shy just by looking at her, yet she was obviously eager to become friends.

_Don't worry, Atlas, we'll find a place for you here and maybe even a real name that you can use._

He clutched his head in surprise at the sudden intrusion. He already had one voice in his head that liked to make its presence known; he didn't need another poking around to see what was inside.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I forgot that you haven't been mind linked like the rest of the team." Her voice held nothing but concern and regret as her smile vanished to be replaced by a sad frown.  
He held out her hand to stop her.

"It's okay, just . . . don't do it again." He neglected to mention that it wasn't an unfamiliar experience.

"Where were we?" Kaldur hesitated for the briefest of moments before continuing.

"This is Artemis, our resident archer. Rest assured that she is very capable with a bow."

"A pleasure."

"And this is-"

"-Superboy, I know. We already met."

The Kryptonian didn't offer his hand like the others had, they remained crossed over in front of the Superman symbol displayed on his shirt while his scowl said all that needed to be said.

"I guess we'll save the pleasantries for some other time."

"I guess we will." Both men duelled with scowls and just plain hostility as the memories of the past few hours were still fresh in each other's brains.

Any further discussion was halted as Batman entered the room, silencing everyone as his eerie presence made filled the chamber.

"Didn't you have league business to deal with?" Robin quickly asked the man with leather wings.

"I do, but first I have a mission assignment that I need to brief all of you on." He glared in Atlas's direction before continuing.

"Almost all of you."

The Genomorphs had taught him about the Batman. His various known skills and technological weapons, as well as the various rogues that made up his gallery of villains in Gotham city as well as all over the world and beyond. One important aspect they had failed to list with enough importance was just how damn intimidating he could be.

"Atlas, this mission requires all members of the team to be at one hundred percent. Since you've just barely escaped a Cadmus facility and are not yet officially a part of this team, I'm going to have to ask you to return to your room and get some rest. Once this mission is complete and the team returns we will discuss the possibility of you participating in any future missions."

He wanted to protest but knew deep down that the Bat was right. His chest still ached ever so slightly from where he'd been impaled and then punched and the headache he'd thought had gone away had returned after the mind meld with Martian Manhunter. Right now, sleep sounded like a mighty nice prospect.

"Robin, show him to his room. The rest of you, gather round."

Robin was quick to come to his side as he took his hand to lead him towards the location of his room. His hand was warm, just like the first time when he'd stopped to check on the spike in his chest and his face held that smile that even mortal danger couldn't diminish.  
Both exited the large chamber of the briefing room as a map of the Middle East popped up on the giant projector screen.  
They passed through the cave's various winding passages before coming across the kitchen.  
The smell of something that had been recently burnt wafted through the room as they passed the various assortments of cooking utensils and oven trays strewn out across the marble surfaces.

Not long after they passed the kitchen they came across the living quarter's section of the mountain hideout. The rooms for the various members weren't arranged neatly like the rest of the facility, they were spread out across three different levels with two rooms usually on each floor and a shower facility and locker rooms on the middle floor. The aim was to reduce the risk of the entire team being eliminated in a surgical strike with the various living quarters being assorted into a shape reminiscent of a lopsided version of the letter M.

The complex was located in the center of the hideout, close to the cave's kitchen, Hangar and Mission room with the other sections of the of the facility, requiring slightly more effort to access.  
He was on the uppermost floor, where only two out of six were being utilised, the other being occupied by Kid Flash and he knew that things would be interesting to say the least with the speedster being literally right next door to him on a daily basis.  
They finally reached his room; it had a door that was similar to the one he'd seen in his recent subconscious excursion but was unique enough to prevent him from being noticeably unsettled.

"Looks like all that's left for you to do is enter a passcode for your room and you should be sweet till we get back."

"Looks like I'll be sticking around for a bit longer by the way things are going."

"Dude, it would be awesome if you stayed with us, I mean, you went toe to toe with Superboy! Imagine what you could do to the bad guys." He paused as he realised that he was forgetting that the living weapon in front of him was still human, despite what Batman had said.  
"And it would be cool to have you as a friend."

"I look forward to it." He smiled as he keyed in the combination he'd just thought of into the wall mounted computer. It was simple but memorable and the door chimed as the computer signalled that the code had been recorded. A _whoosh_ accompanied the door as it revealed the domain that was to become his residence. It was fairly spacious with a generous Queen sized bed located in the middle.

A small bookshelf was propped up next to the fairly sized wardrobe that was filled with various assortments of casual attire and the odd business suit for the unlikely but still possible black tie events he might have attended.  
The most striking feature of the room was the display of a snowy Swiss mountain range on the far panel wall.

It took a second as his eyes noticed the subtle outline of a massive flat screen monitor that was built into the wall itself, no doubt to give them some semblance of nature inside the potential tomb that served as their home.  
It was hypnotising to watch the various sheets of snow be blown in various directions by the crisscrossing wind currents, but that illusion came to an end as his guide spoke once more.

"I hope you like it, I'd show you more but I gotta get back to the briefing, if you need anything just ask Tornado."

"Sure, I'll see you when you get back."

"Can't wait." He replied with a smile.

Robin was quick to disappear back down the way they came, leaving him to eye the nearby bookcase.

_I wonder if Clive Cussler is any good._

* * *

**_Three hours later_**

The Alarm clock rattled off its usual beeping as the faint rays of early morning light filled the bedroom. The room's sole occupant rose from her slumber to tap the top of the now repeating alarm clock and halt its noise. The clock face read the same time as it always did.  
Four twenty five AM.

The clock ceased its audible irritation as she directed her eyes towards the four security monitors arrayed in front of her bed. All displayed various different angles of the residence she was staying in, as well as the accompanying security staff that came as mandatory for someone of her position.  
She tossed the blanket to the side before slipping her feet into a pair of purple slippers, all the while reaching for the bedroom gown that matched the colour of the aforementioned footwear.

She made her way to the right side doorway, giving one last look at the monitor array before moving down into the houses kitchen. The smell of coffee was already permeating the air as the automated beverage machine brewed the same concoction of decaf that she always had.

She reached for the mug that lay underneath the machines spout, as the warm black liquid filled the container to the near brim. Its smell began to waft through the room as she took a sip of the coffee while reaching for the volume on the TV set she'd turned on a moment earlier.  
It was turned to a news channel, a young man that couldn't have been older than twenty five with thick brimmed glasses detailed the latest instance of violence and warfare in the Middle Eastern country of Bialya, a country who had not been fortunate in the stable government department.

She tuned it out as she reached for a small phone, it had only three numbers on its face and the first was pushed as she brought it up to her right ear.

"Yeah, have the car ready in twenty minutes, and get all the division heads in for the meeting an hour early."

She set the phone back down on its hook before waiting for a reply. She didn't need to hear one anyway.  
The last of the coffee vanished as she sipped the last remaining amount from the bottom of the mug, before placing it down into the kitchen sink.

She frowned as the images of tanks destroying a town church popped up before reaching towards the power button on the television set. It flickered out of existence as she walked back towards the doorway, walking past the monitors towards the bathroom, failing to see them flicker into blackness, one after the other.

She closed the cream coloured door while slipping off the purple slippers next to the door stopper.  
The click of the doors lock sounded as it fit snugly into place, the warm heat of the showers water began to be felt as she made her way inside the cubicle like shower pod.

She spent exactly five minutes bathing in the incoming water and soap as the steam rose to cover the small room, a misty layer coating the wall ceiling as the water pressure dropped to zero.  
Her hand extended to reach for the towel which lay just out of reach, grasping again and again before another hand met hers, gifting her morning gown into her grasp instead.

She pulled back the shower curtain section above her waist in shock to see the figure standing before her.  
He was cloaked in black and grey, his face obscured by a mask with ear that branched upwards while a dark cape flowed down his body's length before clumping into a slight heap at his feet.  
But his most prominent feature lay adorned on his chest. A symbol of a bat.

"Get dressed. It's time we talked."

* * *

**_ Five minutes later._**

"Amanda Waller. Born in East St. Louis. Rhode scholar. PhD in political science. Served in intelligence under three administrations. Disappeared from public life four years ago. Member of the Cadmus Board of Directors and current warden at Belle Reve prison for Metahuman criminals."

"Am I supposed to be impressed? Maybe I should rattle off some of your resume now, rich boy?"

The dark figure scowl deepened as any shock that he may have had at his compromised identity failed to alter the rest of his facial features.

"Fine. Why don't we step into the light together? I'm sure the American people will be just as interested in _your_ activities, as _mine_. Secret weapons, illegal cloning experiments, melding test subjects with advanced alien power armour, bypassing Congress."

"What do you want?"

"I want to know what you think you're doing." He demanded.

"Did Superman ever mention that for us to accept his apology for the Parasites little rampage in Metropolis four years ago, he had to tell us about his full capabilities? All about them? We started to wonder what would happen if one day, it wasn't the Parasite destroying everything in sight with Superman's powers, but Superman himself." She made sure that her tone was controlled and direct as she faced the terror of Gotham's criminals.

"That won't happen."

"You don't know that. The world we live in is too unpredictable to make that promise. So I had my people run some computer simulations. If a series of events were to cause Superman, or any of your team to go rogue, what do you think would be the result?"

"That's moot." He stated.

"Humour me. In every single scenario you beat us. Badly. Nothing short of Nuclear retaliation offered any form of security, and even then, the results were too catastrophic to be seriously considered. But that was before Cadmus."

"You're creating a silver bullet."

"Exactly, now we have the technology to defend ourselves from Metahuman criminals _and_ heroes." Both had the potential to be especially destructive in Metropolitan areas.

"Does your idea of a superhuman counter measure include subjecting people to genetic manipulation and turning them into living weapons?"

"You're referring to the incident in Rhode Island that your junior members exacerbated. Cadmus isn't focused on just one avenue of response; we look into any that show promise. That was just one of them."

"So turning children into armoured super soldiers is now part of national policy?" His tone grew angrier as the exchange went on.

"Hardly. They're clones of subjects whose genetic material was deemed the most suitable for our needs. That one you took is ultimately replaceable."

There was a pause as the dark spectre analysed the dark pupils of the rooms other occupant. Conviction was the only emotion visible.

"Whatever you think you're doing, if you present a threat to the world, the Justice League will take you _down_."

"If we present a threat? You've got an orbiting satellite up in the sky with who knows what kind of weapons pointing _down_! Given the right kind of trigger, your league could overthrow any world government on a whim! _We're _the good guys, protecting our country from a very real threat. _You!_"

He was past being phased by any new revelations of secret matters, opting to give one long hard stare at his enemy before shifting towards the doorway. He was halfway through before the alarms sounded and voices cried out angrily in the distance.

She watched as he kept his current pace before disappearing around the corner and out of sight.  
She knew that pursuing him would be fruitless and motioned towards the wall mounted phone she'd been eyeing the entire time.

That was when she realised her right hand was shaking.

* * *

Well here's chapter two. Basically getting introduced to the team before they have to shoot off on a particular mission in a certain rogue state.  
Next chapter we'll see some more of our friend and his real capabilities.


	3. Trial Run

**_ One year ago_**

There stood the man. He was tall and daunting in stature, with fierce green eyes that burned with a purpose that he had accumulated over many lifetimes. His hair parted between a wise grey and an opaque brown as it made its way towards his ears while his cloak and charcoal black suit hugged his skin.  
Usually, this kind of spectacle was not necessary but, saying that, he found a smirk forming over his usually dispassionate face as he gently ran over the sides of his hair with his palm.

The room from which he watched the display was one of the odd ones out at the facility. It didn't conform to the usual grey and black colour palette that defined the rest of the sub surface honeycomb complex, nor any other construction scheme that would be expected of such a facility. The interior was coated in a polished finish of mahogany that reflected the light of the massive crystal chandelier mounted on the roof. The floor lay coated in Persian rugs whose age would cause most people to shake their heads in disbelief while in the center was where a large oak study desk was situated.

The same desk faced a large rectangular wall which was covered by three large screens broadcasting what was seen down below.  
They showed a vast arena of sorts, where the ground would shift and reform into various shapes while hidden hatches and entrances would reveal automated turrets and flying drones. All nicely immersed in optical camouflage designed to replicate any environment on Earth and beyond with uncanny accuracy.

Today, it was configured to display a densely urbanised city block, with decaying buildings of European heritage and an office building gleaming in bright new silver as it showcased the precision and brilliance of the future.  
That brilliance was quickly smashed out of existence as a massive hulk of flesh, bone and body armour flew into, and obliterated, one of the new offices in a cloud of dust and building materials.

No rest was had for the wicked as a few seconds later, a small object the size of a deodorant can flew into the newly created hole and lodged itself in the unidentified creature's abdomen at the speed of sound.  
The explosion that followed didn't happen instantly. The missiles onboard smart computer analysed the point of entry it had created, the required explosive power it would need to render its target into a pulpy corpse and if any more munitions would be required should said explosive power prove to be ineffective. All this took less than one tenth of a second before the computer gave the order to detonate.  
The office buildings interior suddenly found itself to be under the assault of a three thousand degree cone of fire along with thousands of steel fragments travelling at five times the speed of sound, as if some ungodly figure had created a hybrid of a shotgun and a flamethrower and let loose with reckless abandon.

Computers, desks, chairs, windows and the dozens of cubicle walls were shredded under the merciless onslaught before being completely blown apart and burnt into pathetic pieces of nothingness.  
The sound was the first to subside and normalise before the massive wall of fire that had been concocted from the deceptively small device vanished, leaving a blackened interior pockmarked with still burning dots of flame.  
The entire ordeal had lasted less than five seconds and left a smouldering ruin of an office building and whatever target had been inside.

That was when a buzzer sounded throughout the "city" and the smoking building faded into oblivion. All that remained was a bloody mess of unidentifiable bone and meat as the target was shown to be one of the few real components of the simulation. The other non artificial member still left in the room was still very much intact.  
The metallic figure stood covered in scorch marks but otherwise undamaged from his original battle state, the missile launcher mounted on his shoulder responsible for the previous few seconds of carnage powered down and compacted into a smaller version of itself as it moved back into the compartment mounted in the armoured figures shoulder.  
It stood in a suit of gold and blood red armour while its eyes shone with burning intensity of electric blue that epitomised the dispassionate ruthlessness it had displayed throughout the hour long simulation.

Then the display flickered out of existence leaving the room in pitch black darkness.

"Quite impressive-" He said, turning to face his masked companion.

"-Wouldn't you say?"

"Not bad for a tin man, but he's slow in close quarters. Any decent opponent will exploit that." The tone of the blonde haired man's carefully delivered criticism evident through the mask that obscured his facial features.

"That will be corrected soon enough; the next iteration of this weapon will be as fast in reaction time as some of our more fleet footed foes." The robed man depressed a button on the study desk and a hologram of various DNA strands were suspended some three feet above its top.

"Soon, it will be ready for phase two."

* * *

**September 3rd. Present day.**

He had turned down the lighting of his room, the brightness hurting his eyes after the two sleepless nights he'd spent absorbing every little scrap of information about the world. The Genomorphs had taught him various things, sure, but he'd never considered nor been given the will to learn what _he_ wanted to learn.  
And that was precisely why he'd been using up a considerable amount of bandwidth in the past forty eight hours to search the internet and learn about the blue pearl that was Earth and the people that lived on it.

Countries and their cultures, famous historical figures and events, the Justice League and its members, the music of two French robots and even the little known delicacy of a special type of doughnut served at a small restaurant in Seattle's Puget Sound.  
Of those aforementioned forty eight hours, he'd slept for around five of them and only after having his room's internet access cut off by Red Tornado, who had cited health concerns and something called a bill from spending too many hours searching.  
The view of the bay of Happy Harbour crept through the artificial window as he lay on the bed and let the rays of light it emitted to dance throughout the room, casting shadows of various shapes all over.

_This is not an example of productive activity, Subject Four._

"Sleep is perfectly productive, you should be commending me." His half conscious mind apparently still capable of verbally fencing with its mental roommate.

_Commending such an activity would only invite its repetition._

"Then maybe I shou-"

The chime of the door sounded as the passcode he had put in place for security was bypassed and the wall rearranged to one side, showing a woman dressed in a denim jacket and a skin tight black and grey suit. Her hair was striking shade of blonde while her face was creased into a frown as she gave the room a once over.  
He wasn't surprised that she disapproved; the floor was littered with books and clothes all over from his pursuit of knowledge and the smell of sweat lingered in the air.

"Get dressed, you have practice to attend." He had seen her around the cave in the few times he'd left his room to get food, or take a shower but he'd never caught her name.

"Practice?" He quizzed.

"Yes, practice. It's an eight letter word that means you-" She pointed her left index finger towards the mess of blankets he lay under."-have to get out of bed."

"And what are we, ah, practicing?"

"Well, an open mind is a healthy mind, so why don't you let me decide what we'll be practicing?" She smirked.

"Ah..."

"Get dressed and meet me in the mission room. You're first assignment, if you're staying as a member of this team, is to beat me." She chuckled slightly before turning her head towards him.

"That is of course, if you can."

That got him a bit ticked off. He had gone toe to toe with half of the team and held his own, hell, only the arrival of the worlds finest had managed to subdue him.  
He flipped off the bright green duvet and moved over to the closet. It held a few pairs of jeans and some generic t-shirts that lacked any sort of advertising or pictures and were simply content to be uniform in appearance. He selected the bright red one that had been placed towards the back of the heap of clothes and trudged towards the door, fully aware that he looked, and smelled, like a mess.  
The hallway was brighter than the room, causing him to temporarily squint at the lighting in annoyance before his eyes adjusted. He mentally did a quick mind map of the cave to determine where the hell the mission room was, before the scent of something delicious cooking reminded him it was one room away from the kitchen, and he hadn't eaten something substantial in few hours.  
He sleepily moved passed Kid Flashes quarters and down the solid stairs and green walls towards the secondary chamber that served as a junction of sorts between the various rooms. Another mental check and he headed towards the mission room where his challenger stood waiting.

_Warning; subject has been identified as Black Canary._

The suit had been bugging him lately, arguing that the information he had been absorbing was not improving their chances of escape from the mountain fortress.  
He had nonchalantly told the suit that _he_ did not wish to escape. Not when he had a warm bed and people around that weren't actively seeking to inject needles into his brain.  
But now the suit had stopped its bickering and focused on the task at hand, informing its host of the potential danger of the heroine.

_Known abilities include; Exceptional mastery of various martial arts and fighting styles, a strong sense of leadership and the ability to induce an extremely damaging sonic shockwave known as the Canary Cry by altering her vocal frequency.  
Moderate caution advised._

That didn't serve to put him at ease, but at least he knew what he was up against.  
He covered the dozen or so remaining steps between the entrance and the central portion of the holographic training ring where Canary stood casually removing her jacket.  
As she did so, the rings holo projectors rose up to create a circular cage of sorts, to define where the two were permitted to spar.  
Fortune favoured Canary, as the ring was somewhere between being too cramped for any sort of ranged attack, but also too open to keep both locked in close quarter combat. Not entirely ideal for him with or without his armour.

"This may seem a bit quick to test your combat skills so soon but I need to know if you can handle the kind of threats this team deals with everyday. So-" She threw her arms into a fighting stance and crouched backwards "-are you ready to begin?"

"Are you?" He tried to seem at least a bit confident when in truth he had no training in hand to hand combat whatsoever.

"Ooh, a tough guy are we? Well, care to prove it?" She moved her fingers in a taunting motion.

"I guess we'll find out." He too, shifted into something resembling a protective fighting stance.

A steady buzzer rang out and the base computer decreed in its artificial voice that the match had begun.  
Both participants readied themselves, allowing several seconds to pass before the first attack began.  
She let him deliver the first blow, a straight shot for her face with his left fist. It travelled through the air between them before being stopped with her palm with a small _thud_.  
She twisted it in an unnatural manner, causing him to wince slightly from the pain, before releasing and letting him stumble back a few steps, clutching his arm all the while.

"Sloppy, your enemies won't be so merciful if you give them a chance like that." She was smiling whereas he was scowling, obviously amused at the rookie mistake.  
A holographic marker popped up around him with the word _FAIL_ written in big red lettering as the computer voiced Canary's victory.

He rubbed his arm for a few more moments before shifting back into a fighting stance and charging. He leapt forward, bringing up his fist to deliver a straight shot for her midsection, drawing back for more power before it shot forward towards her.  
He saw the limb charge forwards towards his opponent, only to see her effortlessly use his momentum to her advantage. She pulled on his outstretched arm, allowing her other arm to loop around his head and strike him with her elbow.  
The thud of the attack didn't sound like something hitting his skull and the fact that he didn't have a throbbing pain in his head confused him a bit more. It was only when he turned his head to where her elbow was that he saw that it had been stopped deftly by the outer side of his hand.  
She seemed as surprised as he, the only exception was that she didn't stop to think about block as she dropped down and swept his legs out from under him.

"That wasn't a bad block-" He rolled away from her and tried to recover in time for the next beating "-though you should never give your opponent time to recover."  
She was already sprinting towards him as the last syllable left her mouth. He saw her curl up into a more conservative ball shape before extending her left leg in time to impact his chest.  
He couldn't counter it in time, though it hurt a hell of a lot less than he expected and didn't send him flying, merely knocking him down to the ground under her heel.  
Another _thud_ and another confirmation from the computer as to his failure sounded as she didn't press the attack any more than it needed to be, simply returning to the rings center for the next round.

_That defense was ineffective, Subject Four. The chances of you emerging as the victor in this duel is less than five percent._

"Shut up." He lunged forward again, his attack a lot more aggressive as he swung his right arm into a haymaker aimed at her head. She quickly ducked downwards, bringing her own fist to connect with his ribs. The expectation that it would wind him failed to become a reality as he brought his left outer leg in a backwards kick towards her lowered head, apparently ignoring the blow to his lungs.  
Adrenaline that had been conservatively flowing through his arteries now surged into his veins as he began to attack.  
She bent backwards under the swipe of his leg, before proceeding to strike his now exposed abdomen, pushing him back several steps and giving her a chance to catch her breath. He didn't let her recover completely as he launched into an onslaught of strikes – combinations of punches, jabs and kicks- at her. She expended minimal effort in blocking all of them using some technique he didn't know the name of, before deciding she was tired of the little game they were playing. She struck his right thigh with her foot while he was in the middle of letting loose another haymaker. She used the momentary lapse of concentration to swat away his arms and smash both sides of his head, discombobulating him and causing him to stumble backwards with his hands around his head.  
She had taken three steps away from him before crossing her arms and changing her face from one of amusement to mock disappointment.

"Not too bad, though honestly expected a bit more out of you, Atlas, but I guess looks can be deceiving."

_She is baiting you, you must not-_

He didn't let the suit finish its monologue as he charged forward towards his opponent. No longer focused on hitting her with fists, he managed to grab a hold of her waist and drove her towards the floor in an attempt to use his bulk to his advantage and grapple with her on the ground where she could not maneuver. She connected with the ground with a moderate _clunk_ and he was sure he had her. He kept diving, longer than he thought he should have been, before realising that he wasn't diving at her, but over her. She had extended her left leg towards his chest before even hitting the ground, and used his own momentum to flip him onto the floor ahead of her.  
He too, hit the floor with a metallic _clunk _and found himself out of breath. He took in the sight of the overhead lighting and rocky formations of the inner sanctums for a few seconds before he heard her rise to her feet.  
The sound of her footsteps grew softer as she walked towards the edge of the ring in a fashion that only a winner could exhibit.  
She hadn't even waited for him to get up and challenge her again, she was already walking away.  
That made him very, very angry.

"Suit. Activate." The two words flowed from his mouth as his anger manifested into a haze that prevented him from stopping to ask himself if he was suicidal.

_Affirmative. Beginning Armour power up._

All across his body, the skin that shielded his internal organs from the outside worlds changed in pigmentation and pattern. Peachy white became pockmarked with a metallic yellow and hot rod red as the under sheath of his armour emerged from its sub dermal holding chamber.  
The marks of metal became bigger and bigger, connecting with other points along his body before coating him in an artificial skin of both colours. As soon as his natural skin was no longer visible, the second coat of metal emerged, then a third and a fourth as they shaped into artificial muscle and other critical components of the suits inner workings.

The final four layers of coating emerged, crawling across the various protrusions into a solid and smooth series of interlocking layers of an extremely dense Nth metal bulwark that could stop even the most powerful of blows.

His chest was the last portion to be covered by the protective coat as it moved to merge with the bright blue power source that had been so well camouflaged underneath his upper chests various assortments of skin, muscle and bone.  
Tiny wires and other pieces of the armoured jigsaw fell into place, letting a metallic _clink_ sound out as the various components slid into a locked position and the soft whine of the reactor indicated it had synced with the power systems throughout his protective sheath.  
His palms and helmet's eyes glowed the same electronic blue that they had the first time he'd donned the armour and the Heads Up Display sighted a now visibly concerned Black Canary in a fighting stance facing him.

He rose from his vulnerable position, using his knee as leverage before finally extending to his full augmented height of well over six feet. He stared her down as her physical form was broken down into sections by the Heads Up Display, indicating the weakness of her midsection to physical and repulsor strikes. The thing that interested him the most was how her previously calm heartbeat had spiked and was continuing to rise as she realised the power of the beast she had unleashed.

"There are no powers used during training." She said as she twisted her head to the left, cracking her neck for effect.

"But I don't suppose you care much for rules at this point."

He didn't reply to her jest as his boot thrusters fired him some six feet in the air towards the ceiling in an arch pattern, allowing him to power towards Canary who was now in the process of dodging the aerial attack.  
He came down with a tremendous _crunch_ that shook the floor and cracked the metal beneath both his fist and right knee. She had dodged in time to avoid becoming a human piñata, rolling around a few feet away before coming to her feet and going on the offensive.

He brought up his right hand from the floor and angled his palm towards her. The high pitched whine of the repulsor lasted less than a second before shooting a beam of white light towards the encroaching threat. It split the air a few centimetres to her right but her quick reflexes allowed her to evade the energy weapons assault and bring her into position behind the armoured figure.  
He saw the gap in his defenses and brought the arm he'd been aiming at her with into a wild backwards swing, twisting his now rising body towards her in the process.  
The swing would have broken whatever bones it came into contact easily, but she wasn't that easily dispatched.

She ducked beneath the backwards haymaker and assaulted her now exposed opponents mid and upper section with a series of punches, before seeing his right arm returning to punch her lower chest. Her quick flurry of punches had had as much chance of affecting her opponent as wet paper would have had at penetrating the armour of a main battle tank. She ceased her attack and switched tactics, catching hold of the returning metallic limb, transferring the momentum of the second haymaker to lift him from his position and send him sliding back behind her.  
A few sparks appeared as he slid across the smooth surface before coming to a halt on his back.  
Failure turned to fortune as he realised that the disadvantage of no range between the two ceased to exist, a good twelve feet between the sparring partners.

The hum of repulsors whined through the air as he brought both palms up and aimed them at her feminine form. Two more beams of light shot forth to cut the air in front of him. Both served to halt his opponent's new advance as she was forced to duck to the side to avoid the deadly beams. More beams shot out every second as a burning smell filled the filtered air of the cave. Canary was sliding to avoid the beams that were becoming dangerously precise, leaping forward as the places she had been in only an instant before became a blackened scorch mark. She was running out of room from which to evade to as she kept leaping and diving around the cover deprived ring and the beams were showing no signs of letting her rest.

_Warning, projectiles incoming._

He couldn't shift towards the warning indicator fast enough as three sharp and thick metallic objects cut through the air and embedded themselves in the joints of his arms and dead center in his chest. A second later they exploded into a rapidly expanding cloud of purple foam that quickly encased his body as it flash hardened into a solid cement like mix.  
He found himself leaning backwards towards the ceiling awkwardly as the new development left him unable to move. That was when his vision filled with the cowl of a very imposing and serious figure, and he didn't need the suit to tell him who it was.  
Batman's face played host to his trademark glare as he spoke to the hilariously helpless Atlas.

"That's high density Polyurethane foam that you're encased in. Now that you've got a moment to think, I want you to know that you have two choices." His voice became icier as he held his hand up to Atlas's face and extended a single finger.

"One. You can calm down and recognise just how stupid you've been in the past ten minutes."  
A second finger joined the first.

"Two. You can stay angry and I put you on ice for however long it takes before I deem you to no longer be a threat to this team-" He leaned in closer to the helmet face. "-Or anyone else. Choose wisely."

_Suit integrity is still at one hundred percent. Immobilising foam can be eradicated within five point two seconds.  
_  
The suit was right; the foam hadn't actually damaged anything and had only served to incapacitate him at that point. He didn't, however, want to fight the Dark Knight, not when the records he'd gone through indicated that he was prepared for any scenario, up to, and including, taking down Superman. He still wanted to live at the cave afterall."Suit. Power down weapons." He gave a flex of his fingers and the glowing yellow light of energy in both of his palms disappeared and returned to their powered down state.

"Good move." The cloaked man reached for some sort of device from his utility belt and placed it at the center of the foam. A second later it was beginning to melt away and free the figure within.

"I would advise you hit the showers before I begin to look at option two a bit more favourably." It wasn't a recommendation, it was an order that left no chance for deviation.

The remainder of the foam liquefied and he dropped to one knee in a pose that to anyone who had just entered the room, would look to be a foe admitting defeat to his superior. That was exactly what was happening.  
He brought himself upwards to stare at the Dark Knight for several seconds through his neon blue eyes before shifting on his heel and moving back towards the kitchen and the showers that lay beyond. He didn't bother to allow the armour to retract back to its home beneath his skin, it was still covered in the purple goo and he didn't particularly feel like having that inside his body, even if the Nanites were going to scrub it anyway. It took him a few minutes to navigate the various passages of the mountain before the steady crunch of his rocklike feet echoed against the marble walls of the shower room. He brought his six foot three tall form underneath one of the faucets and turned the water control handle. It was but a moment before the cool substance began to flow across him and into through the various rents and divots in the plating. The remaining goo slid off and into one of the drains in the room's floor, and as far he was concerned, that was exactly where it belonged.

The Bat had managed to subdue him in less than three seconds, and without even breaking a sweat. Now both he and Canary were probably figuring out what to do with him after his little light show had redecorated the mission room's interior and nearly wounded one of the leagues senior members. Would they send him away to some secure bunker in the middle of nowhere to poke at his brain and find out what made him and his suit tick? Would he be given back to Cadmus to have their way with him?

_Your heart rate has increased, Subject Four. To alleviate any suspicion, mission room audio and visual feeds have been hacked._

He made a mental note to himself that the suit could read his mind as the conversation between the bat and the bird filled his eyes and ears.

* * *

"It was a match that struck a nerve and showed that he doesn't know his limits, he's impulsive and quick to anger. He has potential but he's going to get one of the team killed if you send him out on a mission without him having been taught to control himself." Canary was quick to voice her considerable amount of anger at nearly being turned into a human torch. He did silently thank her for not telling Batman to take him away,however.

"I know. That's why you're here, to help him with that like you're helping Superboy."

"That's no- never mind." She paused as she realised that that was actually her assigned role at the cave. "You still haven't told me what _you're_ doing here."

"The team is missing. They're thirty hours past their assigned check in point and we haven't been able to locate them with the Watchtowers sensors." He let slip an ever so small amount of anxiousness with the statement.

"And you're here to do, what, exactly?" She asked.

"Robin has a private communicator in his utility belt that I've taken special precautions to render almost undetectable. It can transit to only two locations. The Batcave and wherever his current base is."

"And let me guess; there isn't anything on the one at the cave, so you came here."

"More or less. There's nothing on the computer in his room either which is unusual." He moved to sit at the massive monitor that was linked directly with the Caves central computer.

"I'm going to go over the boom tube activity in Bialya and see if there was anything substantial near their drop site, anything more concentrated than normal." The steady rhythm of typing began to echo in the chamber as his hands glided over the various keys of the control interface.

"You think that'll give you an indication of what's gone wrong?" She put an arm on one side of the chair and leaned in to better see the various blips that dotted the map of the hostile Middle Eastern country.

"It'll give me an indication as to whether I need the League to bring the team home wrapped in blankets or in body bags." It was a ponderous statement which was delivered with cold professionalism. Anyone that knew Batman well enough could tell that that was the most emotional state he would ever allow anyone to ever see him in and it showed as Canary placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Bruce, they're a strong team, it would take a lot to even come close to seriously challenge them."  
She leaned closer and tore his face away from the monitor to look at her own when he didn't acknowledge her reassurance.

"Dick will be okay, you know it and I know it."

Both paused for a few seconds before he simply nodded and turned back towards the monitor to analyse a cluster of blips that had been deemed interesting enough to warrant a further amount of scrutiny.

* * *

The feed cut out and returned to the view of the floor as he found his hand to be subconsciously crushing the temperature control handle. The team had been gone quite a while, but he thought that had been routine for them. This new information was more than unsettling. He'd started to make friends with some of them before they had been called away on mission and if he was correct, it had been Robin who'd persuaded the League's leaders to let him stay. It was him who he had to thank, to repay.  
A plan began forming in his mind as he turned to march out towards the shower rooms entrance, not bothering to turn off the jet of water. His armour once again gleamed from the wash and the minor repairs the Nanites had completed.

"Suit, download the flight plan data for the team and get me information on that part of Bialya."

_Complete. Records place them some fifteen kilometers north east of Quracs northern border.  
_  
He rushed out of the shower room back towards the room junction, sure that his thundering footsteps would alert the two heroes currently discussing the team's situation in the mission room.  
He rounded a corner as a sign denoting the entrance to the hangar bay lay across the top of the entrance in bold black lettering directed him towards his goal. By now he hadn't quite thought of where he was going or what he was doing, all he knew was that he needed to get airborne and let his aerodynamic frame dig into the early morning air.  
He was stopped in his path as the dark shape of Batman dropped down in front of him, rising in fashion long practiced to give as much emphasis on intimidation as possible.

"Hacking the Cave's computer isn't generally condoned here and neither is unauthorised downloads of confidential flight plan information."

"The team is missing and you know I can help them, just give me a chance." His voice resonated with a voice filter that made him sound colder, more robotic and more intimidating.

"Do you even know what you could be facing in that country?" Batman demanded.

"I'll take the abridged course when I get there." he retorted.

"You're stubborn and it's going to cost you if you don't think about what you're running into." The dark spectre stated.

"I _know_ I can do this. What was the point in bringing me here if you aren't even going to give me a chance to help?" He accused.

A few uncomfortable seconds passed as both eyed each other in an impromptu stare off of sorts.

"Here." He placed a data storage chip in the young clones hand before continuing "Give this to Robin, he'll know what to do with it."

A few more seconds of incredulousness that was thankfully hidden behind his helmet passed as he realised that the Batman was actually going to let him go.

"I know I haven't exactly been a great example of what you think a hero should be, so, thanks." He tried to sound as sincere as possible while holding down his growing excitement.

"Just find out what happened to the Team and bring them back. You're mission is to save lives, not take them, so do _not_ kill anyone on this mission unless you want to spend the rest of your life in Belle Reve prison."  
_  
_The imposing man of the night moved to one side, his message clear, giving Atlas clear passage to his original destination. The latter resumed his clunky sprinting after a moment more of hesitation, down towards the hangar bay in a revitalised fashion.  
It was few steps more before the corridor immediately expanded into another giant cavern. The two massive rectangular doors that shielded the interior from the outside world lay dormant and in place ahead of the large grey landing pad that stood over the caverns mini lake.

"Open the hangar bay doors, let's get out of here!" he commanded the Suit to fulfill his order.

_Acknowledged. Opening bay door section now._

The two six foot thick slabs of reinforced material cranked open ever so steadily, revealing the fresh morning sunlight to him for the first time. Not through some data feed projected onto a monitor or some random memory implant, but real sunlight.

Almost as captivating as the stars.

_Suit functioning at optimal capacity. All systems restored. Weapons hot. Ready for flight._

He was shaken out of his daze of adoration as sirens rang out and the doors groaned to a halt.  
A popup of several green squares arrayed throughout the world ahead cropped up on his HUD, showing him where he was supposed to fly and how fast he was supposed to be going. Right now the readout showed a speed considerably faster than his idle self was travelling at.

"Ok, let's do this!"

His boots thrusters flared to life in a brilliant display of blue hot flame, jetting him forward and through the displayed navigation squares. The water rippled as the generated thrust displaced it into cascading waves and he shot between the hangar bay doors and across the waves of Happy Harbour bay. He had been airborne for only a scant few seconds but that was all it took for him to start grinning like an idiot. He looked to his right to try and catch a glimpse of the rapidly approaching port, but could only see the eastern side of the dockyard where a few fishing trawlers and pleasure yachts lay docked as he jetted forward at zero feet. He took in the sight for as long as he could, before the navigation squares began to arch upwards towards the brilliant blue sky. He arched his back as dozens of onlookers out on their morning walk shook their heads in disbelief as they saw a humanoid figure shoot off into the morning sky over Rhode Island.

Adrenaline hit him full force once more but it wasn't the same as the rush he'd had when fighting Canary. This was the rush that came with enjoying pure, unadulterated, uninterrupted _acceleration._  
_  
Suit velocity approaching mach one, prepare for sonic boom and continue climbing to fifty thousand feet._

He was still grinning like an idiot at the spectacle of dozens of cotton candy clouds passing him by like an afterthought, just as the massive boom of a sonic explosion sounded out across the sky.  
He was grinning until his HUD began to distort into static for a few seconds, before a man in a cowl appeared before his eyes and spoke in a husky tone.

"Atlas, one more thing, the Bialyan Republican Guard is loyal to Queen Bee." The image of a dark skinned woman with a slender frame, intimidating blue eyes and a long crop of black hair that had been pulled back by golden diadem on her forehead appeared in front of his face.

"She uses extremely potent pheromones to enthral humans to do her bidding. If the team is being held captive and she's present, then you must exercise extreme caution when dealing with her." The image of Queen Bee fizzled out to be once again replaced by Batman.

"Stay away from the Queen and hit her from range, got it. Anything other tips?"

"The political situation of the region is extremely volatile; Bialyan troops regularly skirmish with Quraci military units along the border so try to not enflame the situation. Keep a low profile and get the team back. Understood?

"Be sneaky and get the team back, got it."

"Good. Batman out."

Batman's face fizzled out of view to be replaced once more by the bright blue sky, the clouds now becoming sparser as his altitude increased to thirty thousand feet.

_Speed is now mach three, adjusting course to Bialyan drop zone._

The squares continued their vertical pattern for a little over five more seconds before angling to the left and levelling out high above the clouds. He arched himself forwards and peeled to the left, minor adjustments being made to keep him on course towards the Middle Eastern country which potentially held his friends captive.

"Suit, what's our top speed?"

_Maximum velocity is Mach 23.65 or five miles per second. _

That took a moment to process. He vaguely remembered travelling that speed while trying to escape from Superman but to now actually do it without the haze he'd had clouding his mind was a little daunting.

_I also recommend returning to a more reasonable speed of mach one before crossing the Bialyan border._

"Sure thing. Ok, time to see what this thing can do. Punch it!"

As soon as the words were uttered, a spark of information carrying the required adjustments and input commands travelled down the length of his spine towards his center back section. From there the information travelled down the last length of the command conduit and fed the information to the briefcase sized protrusion above his shoulder blades. The act had taken less than a nanosecond and the effects were practically instantaneous. A small series of panels reconfigured themselves to reveal a set of powerful thrusters thrusters mounted on his back. Both promptly flared to life and glowed an intense white hot as they expelled a two foot long sheet of flame that coated his lower back and added its own propellant force to his already considerable thrust capacity.  
G forces increased considerably, but their damaging effects were made minimal by the life support systems and properties of the Nth metal of the suit, to the point of where it they exerted a hardly noticeable amount of drag.

_Palm repulsors reconfigured. Angle both as demonstrated to achieve maximum velocity._

He placed both arms by his side as the trademark white beams of energy extended a few meters from his palms to fully launch him to his top speed.  
He saw the readouts on the upper left corner of his HUD as they kept climbing.

**Mach five. **By now he was flying faster than any fixed wing aircraft and at the top speed of most air to air missiles.

**Mach seven. **Only dedicated missiles could now catch him and only if he stayed at the same speed.

**Mach eleven. **The fastest thing in Earth's skies, short of a Space Shuttle launch vehicle.

**Mach fifteen. **A ludicrous amount of speed, and it was barely over half of his attainable velocity.

They kept climbing as a thin orange coating of atmosphere ignited around his metallic body, giving anyone watching the impression that he was more of a meteor than a human figure in an armoured suit. That was of course assuming that they saw him at all, his highly delayed sonic boom being the only thing to announce his presence and when it did, it carried enough power to seriously damage buildings.

_Estimated time till arrival is nineteen minutes. Scanning for aircraft to prevent destruction via sonic shockwave. Maintain current altitude._

He let out a triumphant "Woohoo!" as he jetted off through the sky and into the darkness that enveloped the other half of the world.

* * *

Crumbly. The ground was crumbly for some reason.

It shifted beneath his face as his eyes struggled to open and his limbs tried to grab some of the substance that comprised the earth beneath his chest.  
He briefly considered going back to sleep and enjoying the nice warm sensation he'd been experiencing previously but his mind beat that notions face to a bloody pulp as his training kicked in.  
His eyes opened and he squinted as his pupils adjusted to the barrage of light that assaulted them, adjusting a few seconds later to take in the sight of a brilliant yellow sun and sea blue sky.  
A heartbeat past before he jerked upwards, letting the substance that had accommodated his bulk a second prior rush upwards and fall short of the new position of his chest.

Sand. It was sand.

He clutched his head as he battled the fog that hovered over his mind and clouded his memories.  
_  
Where am I and what am I doing taking a sand-nap?_

He stumbled forward towards a jagged rock outcropping and the very enticing blanket of shade that it offered.  
_  
Something about a mission, boom tubes and something else.  
_  
He leaned against the jagged formation as he finally made it to the natural shelter.  
Any further efforts to extradite the truth from his cranium were interrupted as he heard the sound of a heavy duty vehicle approaching. The exposed nature of his position was painfully obvious as he quickly scanned for a safe lookout point. He found one after a few moments searching, a small plateau atop one of the rocky fingers that pockmarked the local area.  
Scaling the spire was child's play, even with the rapidly emerging headache making itself painfully prevalent in his mind, and he sat perched atop it after a few seconds worth of climbing.  
The sound of the vehicle engine grew louder before a large dust cloud left the need to visually scan for the new contact redundant.

It closed the distance between the rock formations in little over twenty seconds while its occupant's weapons indicated that they were more likely to be foe than friend.

It took an extra thirty seconds for it to pass his position and another twenty before he was convinced they hadn't spotted his little hideaway.  
He had noticed their uniforms as they had made their reconnaissance and he didn't like what he'd seen.  
He pulled up his wrist computer and its cyan holographic display to confirm his suspicions.

_Those were Bialyan Republican army uniforms, but what are Bialyans doing in-_

His computers display changed to show a map of a country he recognised from his studies in history and geography.

_-Bialya? Ok, better question, what am I doing in Bialya?_

His eyes narrowed in on the date displayed beneath the topographical map.

_In September? What happened to March? Better Radio Batman._

A memory quickly bulldozed its way to the forefront of his consciousness as it depicted his mentor laying out the operating procedure for the mission he couldn't remember going on, one of which was radio silence.

_Or not._

He wasn't going to learn anything new in his little birds nest so he quickly powered down the wrist computer and jumped down into one of the shaded passageways between the rocky structures.  
That was when he noticed the jagged T-shirt on his chest that was covered with a dirtied symbol.

Superman's symbol.

* * *

_Suit velocity is now Mach one point two. Drop zone is now two hundred kilometers ahead of your current position. Possibility of Bialyan interceptors being scrambled to engage us is eighty one percent._

And that was exactly what he had been told not to do by Batman, and that was exactly what was going to happen, no doubt about it. He might as well prepare himself for the threat before that occurred.

"Suit, what's our air to air weaponry look like?"

_Armour weapon systems include multiple air to air micro-rocket launchers, flares and high powered, computer assisted repulsor salvoes._

"And is any of that non lethal?"

_Would you prefer to ram enemy aircraft at less than lethal velocities instead?_

"You and I are going to have a long talk about these things when we get back. In the meantime, can you take down the repulsor power output to stun instead of kill?"

_Affirmative, though why you would want to is unclear.  
_  
"Yeah, I had a feeling you'd say something like that."

_Alert, eight new airborne contacts detected. Targets read as two, F-16c multirole fighter craft and six Mikoyan Manta Ray Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles, twenty kilometers and closing._

"Shit, have they spotted us on-"

_Missile launch detected, attempting to jam and minimising radar cross-section. Recommend evasive manoeuvres._

He let his spinal thrusters spark back to life before diving towards the sandy desert below as half a dozen Vympel R-27 air to air missiles streaked forth from the six drones that were acting as aerial artillery for their manned fighter brethren. The ground rushed up to his format at a speed that was slightly disorienting, before he righted himself a few feet above the golden sands, causing a massive dust trail to be kicked up in his wake The bright streaks of the Vympel's exhausts became miniature stars in his vision as his HUD marked all of them with red pentagonal crosshairs and various different designations. Two seconds later, all of the contacts glowed green and the word _Launch_ appeared in bold lettering in the displays top left corner.

_Do you wish to destroy the incoming missiles, Subject four?_

"Yes!, Do it now!"

_Affirmative._

A small compartment opened on his left shoulder and several small objects the size of a ball point pen leapt forth from their miniature launching racks and towards their new prey like a pack of wolves on the hunt for vulnerable sheep.  
The R-27's weren't designed to evade anti missile countermeasures, there wasn't even any known variant of missile which could intercept something so small that was moving so fast , and as such they concentrated only on the man sized energy signature they had originally targeted.  
The electronic brains of the micro-rockets calculated wind speed, drag, power to weight ratio and any number of deviations their prey could make to their course in the remaining three seconds they had of existence. Satisfied that they were on track to exterminate the threat the munitions posed to their launching platform, they closed the distance between their targets and locked on with their secondary firing computers. In the next instant, several dozen tungsten rods the size of a human fingernail shot forth from each micro-rocket into the R-27's. They ruptured the internal motors and propulsion systems of the missiles, keeping them on track before the rest of the micro-rockets "bodies" caught up and detonated at close range, rendering all of the Vympel's launched into smoking scrap metal.

_Targets neutralised. Recommend gaining altitude._

"Give me a path that puts me on top of those drones so we can get rid 'em."

_Affirmative._

The new pack of Holographic squares attached themselves to the air ahead of him and took him into a steep ascent towards the top of the world. He increased his speed so as to get in position before the fighters could try to savage his attempts to obliterate their robotic support partners and delay him from reaching his comrades.  
After what seemed like an eternity, they levelled out at fifteen thousand feet and changed from neon green to a fiery orange, indicating that his suits sensors were now actively targeting the Manta Ray drones. He swivelled his head as more pentagonal crosshairs decorated the desert's sand dunes below, all now actively seeking to reverse the situation which had gone from seeming to be childishly easy to unexpectedly lethal.

_Fighter craft are looping round to engage our six o'clock. Missile lock predicted in seven point three seconds. Full lock and launch on Manta drones in eight._

"Keep targeting, don't let them get away!"

_Acknowledged_

He levelled out as the holographic squares remained their primal orange colour and the targeting computer in his suit sorted through the various clouds of chaff, flares and numerous "noisemaker" decoy drones that the Manta's had deployed in their evasive flight away from him.

One by one, the computer ceased targeting the various heat and electronic signatures it had discovered to be charlatans and burnt through to the actual culprits responsible for the opening salvo of the battle.

Suddenly a wail of noise sounded in his ear and the upper right side of his HUD flashed with the warning of the F-16's missile computers. The two Fighting Falcons had completed their aerial manoeuvring and brought themselves up to a perfect firing angle behind his vulnerable rear section.  
He blurted out the first thing he could think of so as to give his targeting computer the extra two seconds it needed to identify and kill the drones below him.

"Flares!" A shower of various white hot objects shot out from a dispenser near his armoured hip, forcing the hostile missiles to stay attached to their wing racks as their mothercraft burned through the new data.

_Micro-rockets away._

Another compartment in the shoulder opposite to the original opened and more tiny projectiles streaked forth in rapid succession towards the pitifully slow drones that were seeking to retreat while they still could.

They didn't get far.

Tungsten rods tore through their thin frames after a few seconds of pursuit, tearing apart wings, internal computers and detonating any unfired ordinance they were still carrying in a spectacular display of impromptu fireworks.  
He admired it for as long as he dared before concentrating on the fighters who had now regained their lock on his suits energy signature.  
He instinctively banked to the left as the first set of Sidewinder missiles erupted from the F-16's and streaked towards him. He had a three kilometer berth between him and them that was quickly closing to being something less than what he wanted. He flipped onto his back mid bank to face the newcomers, bringing up his palms around his upper chest in the process.

"Time to computer assist me, Suit!"

He felt the armour compensate for the extreme G-forces of the turn and angle his palm repulsors towards the two Sidewinders. A heartbeat later both fired. The speed of light proved to trump the speed of sound as both missiles were bisected at their mid sections by two bright white beams of light, bringing their brief period of existence to anticlimactic close.  
His HUD wasted no time in informing him that the two F-16's were banking in pursuit and that they would be close enough to use their cannons in rapid fashion.

"Suit, can you slow us down quickly enough to get behind the fighters mid turn?"

_Would you like to deploy flaps, Subject Four?_

"Yes! Deploy the damn flaps!"

Several wings of Nth metal extended from his body in less time than it took for him to blink, causing him to slow from mach one to half that speed within three seconds. It also conveniently caused his two remaining opponents to overshoot, and place him in the same position that they'd had him in half a minute earlier.

"Target their wings and cut them to shreds!"

His palm repulsors extended ahead of his metal face and locked onto a line of each fighters wing, conveniently (and humourously) donated with a holographic pair of scissors cutting away repeatedly at each one.  
The whine of energy hummed in his ears as the beams shot forth and covered the distance between the three opponents so fast that it might have seemed cruel had he been observing the fight from afar.

Both of the crafts wings boiled, bent and broke off as they were rendered aerodynamically incompatible by gravity and the force of drag, sending both multimillion dollar killing machines downwards in spiralling fashion. Their pilots realised the hopelessness of trying to fly a plane that was now essentially a brick with an engine and pulled on the eject lever at their feet.  
A second ticked by as the bolts holding their canopy fast to the planes body shot into the sky and allowed the transparent viewing material to fly free, followed shortly by rocket assisted ejector seats.  
The _fwump_ of the quickly opened parachutes marked the end of the brief dogfight, and brought his original mission back to his mind.  
He straightened out and came to a hover atop the flaming wrecks that were tumbling downwards, panning around the horizon before the marker of the drop zone appeared, and he continued on towards his target.

_The drop zone is now one hundred and twenty kilometers east of our current position. Setting course now._

Hopefully the distraction hadn't made him too late.

* * *

So here we start getting into the crux of the season one storyline with Bialya about to bear the brunt of our friends assault in his quest to *hopefully* save his friends.  
Whether he does save them entirely, however, is another matter.  
Anyway's I hope you enjoyed the new chapter, I might come back and give it a rewrite if I find that certain sections continue to bug me in the future but for now, enjoy.

P.S Potentially looking for a Beta reader to help me sort this stuff out in the late confines of the night when my head is not at my best. PM me if you're interested.


	4. Rescue

**_Three days earlier_**

There was a harsh wind in the air. It kicked up dust storms and forced everyone it came into contact with to don protective masks or suffer a mouthful of sand with every breath.  
Within an hour, it had begun to bury smaller crates and equipment underneath a thick coat of the material that so abundantly comprised the desert around the landing strip and forced its attendants to begin rushing everything that wasn't bolted to the ground back into the three small hangars located on either side of the kilometer long strip of concrete.

As far as he was concerned, the weather couldn't have been any more perfect.  
It guarded against the interfering eyes of the various observation satellites passing above the base and made other methods of surveillance unreliable at best.

Excellent weather for their new arrival.

He quickly brought up the hood of his cloak as he ventured out into the terrible gale of sand that had settled above outside. The door of the hangar clicked open as the computer recognised his pass code and flashed an approving green colour. The hood helped protect him against the onslaught of sound and rushing air as he made his way out of the building and towards a nearby vehicle. The truck fashioned a heavy calibre machine gun, as well as five men dressed in body armour and camouflage meant to take on anyone foolish enough to interfere with their assigned task.

He climbed aboard into the driver's cabin and shut the bulky door behind him. The sounds of nature were lessened considerably as they were replaced by the sounds of man. The truck's heavy duty engine stuttered for a few seconds before igniting with a satisfying growl and a puff of smoke from the exhaust, signalling that the short trip towards the rendezvous point had begun.

He didn't bother to make conversation with the driver. It would have been pointless to say something to a man who had long ago stopped questioning orders or thought for himself. Now all that remained was a husk of a man meant to do anything that was asked of it.  
He thought it was rather ironic, that a member of the species which held dominance over the planet could be reduced to something akin to a docile piece of cattle.  
He stopped thinking about it as the drive wore on. The road out of the airbase had been covered with the same grainy particles that had slowly drowned the exterior of the airbase and as such, the navigation was more difficult than normal.

That didn't particularly matter though; they had plenty of time to get where they wished to go.  
Time wore on as the drone of the engine became white noise in the background of his mind, his attention focused on the task that would be facing them in the very near future. The new arrival had been unscheduled but not unwelcome for if his masters were to be believed, a few guests were set to arrive within the next few hours. Their interference had begun to become somewhat of an annoyance to his superiors and they wanted to ensure that the gnats plaguing them would be eliminated. As the landing site came into view, he could see that they were serious in their approach.

The truck began to slow as a large chain linked fence lined with barbed wire and sandbags encroached upon their vision. The road led to a gap in the defense where a guarded checkpoint stood as a sentry to the small hill behind it. The two guards on duty automatically operated the large red and white gate bar that served as the gate as the vehicle before them approached.  
They had been told long ago that their guests were coming, though not by their commander and not via radio.  
He smiled as the truck passed by the two men and thought what good pets they made. So compliant in what was asked of them.

THe heavy vehicle tilted backwards as it began to climb the small incline that led up to the elevated clearing of concrete, sandbags and landing lights. There were no other guards present as the truck finished its climb and swerved to a stop near the small paved circle that was the final waypoint in their route.  
No other guards were needed to be here, only the five filing out of the rear of the military vehicle and the mysterious monk like figure that exited the vehicle's cabin.  
The last of the soldiers joined the rest in a line on either side of him as they took positions around the outer rim of the circular landing pad. The wind wasn't as fierce on the hill, only a cloth over their mouths was needed to weather the sand being thrown about around them.

All they needed to do now was wait for a few more minutes.

While the others squinted to get a glimpse of their target, he took a far more effective approach.  
From within his mental self, he extended his consciousness to envelop the terrain around him and scan for what he was searching for.  
It only took three minutes before he felt its presence. It was shallow and like the guards around him, lacking in free will, but there was something else about it. Another presence inside the shell echoed about and spoke for the husk it called a body.

_Landing pad identified. Commencing descent._

He no longer needed to utilise his mental eye to find his target as all that was needed was for him to look up into the starry night sky and see the three lights that burnt brighter than the rest.  
They were separated into an upside down triangle with the bottom point burning twice as bright as the other two. The flames steadily became brighter as the triangle of light came closer and closer to the landing pad and its silhouette rippled against the darkness of the night.  
It came closer and closer and he began to make out the little details of the weapon he was to take charge of.

Its outer body was a dark shade of gold around either side of the chest and the inner forearms, while the rest was stained a jet black reminiscent of burnt charcoal. His whole body was divided into segments between the two different colours while in the center glowed a circular light of crimson red. The entire setup held an obviously metallic finish which seemed in contrast with the rest of the armoured figures cruel body.  
The figure slowly descending on boots of fire struck an imposing sense of power as it looked like someone had melded man and a war machine together into something both less and somehow more.

The next few seconds passed by slowly as the distance between the metal figure and the ground suddenly decreased to zero as the propulsion systems at its feet cut out, causing the entirety of its mass to land on the concrete with a _Clunk _reminiscent of an aluminium baseball bat hitting a home run.  
It lay hunched over its left leg for a few seconds, and then began to rise to the full height that its metal exoskeleton would allow.  
Its eyes were a simmering ruby red and its face was devoid of any features, save for the menacing scowl and sharp metallic cheekbones that encompassed the exact purpose of the humanoid in front of him.

Destruction.

He approached the being that he was to take charge of, opting to speak instead of use his mind to convey conversation.

"Your entrance was most impressive, though I hope you are equally capable in dealing with our other problems as you are in introducing yourself."  
The voice that boomed forth in reply caused a slight shiver to creep its way up his spine. It was every bit as artificial and insidious as the body it came from insinuated.

"Hope is a human delusion. It serves no purpose here. I am here to ensure the safety of the objects delivered to us, there is no hope needed to achieve that objective."

"I see. Whatever your answer may be is irrelevant to me. If you are as capable as my masters have told me, then you will suffice."

He gestured towards the truck and called for the new arrival to follow. Both began the short trek back towards the airbase without saying another word. There was nothing more to be said between the two anyway.

* * *

-  
**_Present day. 1730 hours local time_**

"Hey, Beautiful. Wake up."

It wasn't the voice that had originally roused her from the forced slumber she had been experiencing, it was the heat. The god-awful heat that beamed down from the over ripe sun hanging in the crimson sky above the broken and battered shed she'd laid down in.  
Even with her eyes closed she could feel the early morning rays of gold hitting and illuminating her closed eyelids, wiling her to give in and open her eyes to the surrounding world.

She remembered doing something in the night before, something to deal with a machine and other people who were around her age. Their faces flashed before her eyes but their features were blurred out, their appearance distorted behind a haze of conflicting information and the dull burning sensation in her chest.

"Hey, wake up."

She felt something tugging on her arm and the voice of before calling for her to open her eyes. She clutched her head as the light from before flashed in her eyes and temporarily blinded her before her pupils could adapt. Slowly but surely, the light was filtered to a more tolerable level and the aged and damaged roof of the shed came into view.

It was made of wood and held many cracks that doubtlessly caused problems whenever the pitifully small amount of rain that visited the area came knocking with its quick but heavy downpour.  
Then the sight of the roof gave way to something else. It was a smiling face belonging to someone wearing a mask and if they were wearing a mask then that must mean. . .

She jerked backwards, suddenly very aware of how vulnerable she must have been to let someone creep up on her so easily. She quickly found herself clutching her bow that she remembered stashing nearby and drew back on the bow string with an arrow steadily aimed towards the figures chest area.  
He was somewhat scrawny in appearance with his biceps and abdominal area beefed up by black padding and a face that that was more uncovered than the rest of his body. His facial skin was smooth with the mask only covering the area around his eyes, leaving his short red hair to move about freely.

"Hey it's okay it's okay. I'm one of the good guys, you know, Kid Flash!" She lessened the grip on the bow string so that it wasn't fully taught as she considered his claim.

"Seen Kid Flash on the news, he doesn't wear black." She said hesitantly. Kid Flash was usually seen in a costume of gleaming yellow and fiery red. Not some Special Forces getup like the guy in front of her claiming to be Kid Flash had on.

"Yeah I'm a little unclear on that myself." He scratched his head in a confused motion before continuing. "What about you? A Green Arrow fixation?" He pointed towards the tree green costume she had on.

"Who put me in this?!" She gasped as she looked down towards her stomach and her eyes widened in a mix of shock and embarrassment. It was definitely not to her taste and definitely not what she would wear on a mission.

"Wow I am not touching that with a ten foot, ah, so, you know how to use that bow?" He asked nervously as she finally rested the weapon at her side.

"Yeah, my Dad taught me." The bow was a gift she'd earned a long time ago, when her father was still staying with the rest of her family. Now her eyes burned in annoyance.  
"Dad! He must have done this, another of his stupid tests."

"What kinda tests?" He didn't really want to be part of the tests he was thinking about if she was half as proficient with that bow as he expected.

"He probably wants me to kill you." The casual way she said those words caused a lump to form in his stomach as he briefly considered disarming her before she could strike him with her arsenal.

Any further discussion came to a close as the duo noticed a whistling sound that was slowly increasing in volume. The kind of whistling usually associated with an artillery shell about to hit its target.

Both looked to the roof as the sound came closer and closer, before Kid Flash donned his goggles and took her in his arms bridal style, rushing out of the rickety old shack just in time before it was engulfed in a flash of heat, pressure and sound.  
The pair were knocked off their feet as the shockwave of the explosion hit their backs and forced them to the ground.  
Smoke washed over them for a few seconds after the initial impact and when it cleared, they saw the dealers of destruction responsible.

Behind the remains of the now burning shack lay a moderately elevated sand dune and on that sand dune emerged three distinct shapes. They were constructs of metal and composite armour and the two large cannons mounted in their turrets swivelled towards the duo.  
They were Russian made T-80 Main battle tanks and they were locking on to the two survivors.  
From beneath the mound of sand that the two tanks had parked themselves rushed another vehicle.

It was an all terrain Humvee sporting a heavy machine gun and three crew member's very intent on finishing the two of them before they could escape. The operator of the gun hurled out some sort of curse in his native tongue before letting loose with the weapon.  
Sand and rocks flew around their faces as bullets larger than their thumbs reformed the ground nearby with sheer kinetic energy and searing heat. They struggled to avoid the hail of fire now covering their position as they leapt to their feet, rushing away from the encroaching attackers and towards a rocky outcrop that promised at least some form of reprieve from the incoming bullets.

She rolled to face the Humvee after a few seconds of running, allowing the bow to unfold and fashioning an arrow directly towards the engine block of the vehicle.  
She let slip a pocket of air from her mouth before halting her breathing for a few precious seconds and let slip the bow string.  
The arrow sailed forth from its launcher and directly towards its intended target.

A few seconds passed before its detonation cap clicked against the steel hood of the vehicle and let its stored explosive energy expand in spectacular fashion.  
The pressure of the blast wave forced its way downwards, causing the Humvee to flip forwards as gravity was slapped aside and the two and a half ton machine was propelled into the air.  
It seemed to hang there for a few seconds, before crashing on its top end a few feet behind the duo.  
The victory was short lived as two more Humvees in the distance opened up with their respective armaments, once again soaking the ground with lead.

He looked back towards the tanks and then back to the girl as he moved the protective goggles on his face over his eyes. His feet propelled him to an inhumane speed as he once again swept her up into his arms from her position behind the rocky outcrop.  
He'd seen what she'd been too preoccupied to see and two seconds later his fears were confirmed as the whistle of tank shells preceded the explosions that kicked up dirt and fire all around them.

"Sorry, they've got bigger arrows!"

The tanks swivelled to reacquire a lock onto the now rapidly accelerating shape of their quarry.  
Laser rangefinders picked up on the dust trail behind their foe and fed targeting instructions to the cannon computers. Half a second later they fired and three more canisters of hot death raced towards the retreating heroes.

His vision became muddied as the goggles shielding his eyes from the flash of lights and the flying dirt bore the brunt of the disturbed debris as he weaved in and out of the firing lines of the tanks.  
The girl in his arms squirmed slightly as she tried to weather the onslaught of loosened earth travelling in their direction. Her reaction caused him to run faster and away from the military units, towards a safe refuge where they could catch their breath and get a bearing on the situation.  
It was a few more seconds of running around corners and out of the range of the T-80's before he continued the conversation that had been so rudely interrupted earlier.

"Thanks." She spoke before he could and he was glad all the same.

"Hey, I told you, good guy. Now not to pry but what's your name? Oh and what's this about you killing me?"

* * *

The golden fields of sand opened up to her view as she flew above the vast desert wastes Bialya. She didn't know, of course, that this was Bialya, only that it wasn't Mars and that fact alone sent her over the edge in joy. It was so . . . alien in appearance compared to the vast spire cities of Mars with sand stretching out as far as her Martian eye could see.  
The wind swept across her green face and through her hair before hitting the tail end of her coat, causing it flutter in the breeze as she mentally jumped for joy.

_I'm actually on Earth! I wanted this for so long, even if it's not _exactly_ like TV.  
_She descended towards a cluster of dead trees as her chain of thought rumbled on.

_But why can't I remember how I got here?_  
The golden sand dune that the trees were perched on came closer and closer until she was just a few meters above walking height.

_Concentrate._ She brought her legs up into a cross legged position while her eyes closed into darkness.

_Remember._ The darkness of her closed eyes gave way to the flash of recollection.

(-)

_She saw the previous encounter with the young man who'd torn off his shirt and attacked her._

_The sound of another person in the background of a another memory as the teen she'd mistaken stood in front of a large machine that had expanded to reveal inner compartments._  
_He voiced his wish for her to be careful before another memory flashed._

_She held a baking tray of freshly cooked earth cookies in front of the one she remembered was Superboy and the other teen called Wally._

_"Careful Superboy, they're hot!"_

_The latter snatched one of the cookies that the former had liberated from the tray before stuffing his face and voicing his approval._

_"Mmm not as hot as you, babe."_

_She felt a little awkward at the compliment as she hadn't exactly made the cookies for the team and more for a certain member of the team._

_"Thanks Wally, that's, ah, sweet."_  
_Was all she could reply._

_"Not as sweet as you sugar."_  
_Another compliment that she would have to awkwardly reply to._

_"Oh grow up!"_  
_A girl that she hadn't been in her point of view appeared to slap the flirtatious speedster over the head as the loudspeaker boomed._

_"Team, report to the mission room." It was a voice that belonged to the person she recognised as the team's mission finder, Batman._

_Another place flashed before her eyes, the mission room._  
_It was a large circular chamber illuminated by powerful overhead lights with the various members of the team sprawled around the central ring. There was another man there who she quickly recognised as Kaldur. She didn't see where Robin was until the sound of footsteps on the rear steps crept into her mind._  
_She turned to face them and saw both Robin and another figure behind him that she didn't recognise. He had light brown hair and a face that had various recently acquired scars. He wore a casual set of clothes and seemed hesitant to continue past the steps and towards the rest of the team. She remembered being introduced to him at some point, the name Atlas flashing into her mind. It was then the memory session ended and she returned to her conscious state._

(-)

"I'm on a team! I have friends! And a Superboy who might be . . . I need to find them!"  
She leapt from her hovering position and back to a decent amount of altitude above the golden sea beneath her. She decided that visual identification would take too long and so decided to reach out into the nothingness with her mind.

"Hello, ah team?"

_Maybe they're just out of my range._

* * *

_Drop zone is now twenty kilometers ahead of our current position._

The boosters on his back and feet blended in with the morning sun that blazed down from the heavens as he cruised over the calm desert floor. The place was so much different from what he'd expected. Sure, he'd looked at images of the country during the flight towards his destination but to actually see it in person was entirely different from the few images that existed of the country in its current state.

He particularly liked the way the various different shades of yellow co-existed with the soft scoops of sand that comprised the innumerable sand dunes below him, they looked inviting enough to just land and sculpt various different things using them as brick and mortar.

_Point of Interest identified._

The voice broke him out of his day dream as a circular reticule zoomed in on a series of rapidly emerging dust clouds that were a few kilometers in the distance.  
He slowed down to a little over two hundred kilometers an hour as the suit depicted various possible causes of the dust clouds as still more rose up into the orange sky above.

He had a nagging feeling in the back of his mind that if dust clouds so large were being shot up at such a rate and were not the result of some weird natural phenomenon then there must be some other cause for them to be present. That cause could either be something good, or very, very bad.  
As the distance between the new contact and him rapidly decreased, the feeling became ever more prevalent.

"Suit, be ready for anything. I have a feeling we're in for rough time ahead."

_Acknowledged. All systems online and functioning at peak capacity._

He began his descent towards the glistening sand beneath him and silently hoped that he wasn't too late.

* * *

His legs began to ache and his stomach rumbled from the constant running that they'd been forced to do, courtesy of the big bad army guys who'd shot at them with damn near everything in their arsenal.  
He rapidly scanned the nearby landscape and sighted a moderately sized passage that would have looked like a crevasse had the general height of the sand been higher. Plus it had shade, and he did so want to rest in nice cool place for the next ten or so years.

Maybe he'd get something to eat before he dozed off and sleep happy. He ran for a few more seconds before initiating his slowdown procedure, which consisted of bringing his feet to a stop and seeing how long it would take before drag and friction overcame his momentum. His legs dug two lines in the sand as he eventually slowed to a complete stop near the two rock faces.

He dropped his accomplice to her feet as he grabbed his hips in pain.  
He panted for a few seconds more as he refilled his air deprived lungs. Running was hard work, after all and he needed a bit of a break.  
Speaking of breaks. . .  
He keyed a button on the side of his wrist that controlled a small compartment used for storage of antidotes, pain pills and most importantly, food.

"Sorry, running on empty. Don't think I've eaten in a while."

The Compartment hissed as the protective atmosphere keeping the food inside safe for consumption escaped into the atmosphere around them and the upper lid of the compartment opened up to reveal. . . nothing. All the food was gone, and he only became more suspicious about the circumstances that had landed the two of them in this place.

"Been out here for twenty four hours, or my cupboards wouldn't be bare."

His ears picked up on the familiar whine of incoming ordinance and judging by his friends face, she had as well. Both began to dive out of the way as a large shape rocketed into the ground between the duo.  
There was no explosion, thankfully, but it kicked up a huge amount of sand into both of their faces.  
From the center of the sand explosion he thought he saw a flash of skin. What he didn't see was the fist that impacted neatly with his chest, sending him flying into the rock wall behind him.  
She was already dodging away from the figure that had been delivered into their midst, placing a fair amount of distance between the two and unlocking her bow into a usable form.

From within the dust rushed an enraged figure. He was shirtless and couldn't have been much older than she was but he was letting loose the most animalistic of screams as he charged her position.  
She sighted the arrow she'd pulled from her quiver a few seconds ago and let fly.  
The arrow was in the air for less than a second before its detonation cap depressed into the figures chest and ignited the small explosive charge lodged in the arrows tip.

A small puff of orange and black followed and for a second she thought she'd stopped whoever had decided to attack them. That illusion was quickly dispelled as the figure charged through the blasting power of the arrow and continued on towards her. She rapidly grabbed a cluster of arrows and shot each one repeatedly into the chest of her adversary.

Each impacted with the same force as the last and each had about the same effect as the first.  
The man kept advancing as the last arrow she had on hand was let loose and the familiar whistling sound resonated in her ear once again.  
She didn't waste any more time on the fruitless endeavour and dived towards a nearby outcrop.  
Halfway through the dive, the whistling stopped, and the world went white.

A loud ringing in her ear and what felt like a really harsh sunburn on her back made her feel rather than see the explosion that had knocked her to the ground while her face had been half buried into the sand on one side. The only other sound that she could hear was the shriek of animalistic noise from the man who'd resisted her explosive arrows earlier.

It was soon gone as she saw a shadow in her peripheral vision leap forth towards the culprits responsible. She looked off into the distance and saw more tanks of the same model that had attacked them earlier. They were desperately trying to hit the human juggernaut that was only a few seconds from using his fists to crush their war machines into pulp.

That was exactly what happened as the superhuman landed with loud _clap_ of collapsing armour and snapping tank treads, before taking hold of the massive cannon and lifting upwards.  
The metal screamed in protest as it was pushed beyond the capacity to cope with the force ripping it apart and finally tore in two as the majority of the barrel was torn off from the tank's turret and discarded like a worn out glove.

A crew member of the tank being demolished took it upon himself to drive off the sudden assault with his rifle, only to be grabbed by his bulletproof vest and thrown nonchalantly into the sky above.  
The other crewmembers fled out the rear hatch of the armoured death machine as Kryptonian fingers gripped either side of the dome turret and heaved. The sounds of straining metal returned accompanied by the electric cracks of torn wires as the Meta triumphantly separated the tank into two now harmless pieces.

The turret was lofted high above his shoulders as he failed to notice the second tank taking aim.  
An armour piercing shell rocketed towards him and impacted in a hiss of smoke and flame, propelling him into the sand dunes behind him.  
Sand caved into the form of a small crater and whipped all around the rampaging clone. He flicked it out of his vision before letting his leg muscles leapfrog him onto the remaining tank.

He let out one more cry before curling his fingers up into a fist and shot his invulnerable fist into the side of turret.  
It travelled through various composite materials and wiring before retreating back to attack another target that the Meta had deemed more suitable.  
With another cry that lasted longer than the last, he snuck his fingers in between the small space between the tank's actual body the turret block and lifted upwards. There was little fanfare to be had in the separation of the second tank's body as it was torn apart far more quickly than the first had. Maybe it was because of his rage or maybe it was because of poor manufacturing but it didn't matter as more troops appeared in the distance, all toting various types of weaponry that he did so want to break in two.

* * *

_Metahuman known as Superboy spotted. Five hundred meters ahead._

The magnification of the suit's optics increased a fraction as they showed a pair of armoured vehicles being thoroughly and messily disassembled by the freshly identified team mate.  
He could see the various pieces of metal that littered the nearby area of the battle as well as the cylindrical shape of a tank cannon half buried in the sand behind one of the wrecked tanks.  
Things were obviously going well.  
Subconsciously, he brought his feet up to face the ground as he began his descent towards the chaos below, hoping to get an answer to the various questions that were cropping up in his mind.

"He's really messing up those tanks." The imposing circular shape of a recently loosened turret hurtling towards him caused him to strafe to the side to avoid getting caught in the objects path.

_The Superboy is utilising excessive force. Advise caution when approaching him._

He caught the suit's words as he braced for the ground impact of landing at a cool twenty kilometres per hour. The ground didn't part as easily as expected, causing a small amount of sand to whoosh up around either side of his crouched form.  
He didn't bother to make a spectacle of the landing as he rose to face the Meta whom he'd landed only a few meters away from.

His HUD instantly brought up a cross section of the Kryptonian. His vitals read as far higher than expected and his brain activity read as barely being coherent for someone of his intelligence.  
A further cross section showed various tears in the few clothes he had on as well as various scorch marks on his back and chest from the explosive his friends and allies had used to try and stop to obviously no avail.  
Something wasn't right with his team mate and he decided to attempt verbal communication in order to get a handle on things.

"Superboy, what's going on here? What happ-" his queries were cut off as the Meta bolted at him, crying out in terrible anger and bringing his fist up to hit Atlas's chest plate.  
He dodged to the left but failed to move out of the way in time, resulting in his right shoulder plate bearing the force of the punch that sent him spinning for a few seconds.  
The various thrusters throughout his suit fired to stop his momentum and brought him to a steady footing on a flat patch of sand a few feet away from his landing site.  
He brought his fists up to guard against anymore attacks before trying to reason once more with Superboy.

"What are you doing!? It's me! Atlas!" He saw through the digital vision that the name didn't register in his opponents rage filled eyes and steeled himself for the attack that followed.  
Another animalistic cry rang out as the Meta bolted at him again, but this time, he was prepared.

He brought up his right arm to catch the fist hurtling towards him, channelling his opponent's momentum and allowing his knee to impact with Superboy's chest. A gasp of air escaped the Meta before he was pushed slightly backwards away from the metal man. His respite was brief as the armoured soldier locked his fists together and brought them upwards in a semicircular arc, impacting nicely on the chin of the Kryptonian clone and sending him a few feet into the air.  
A few seconds passed before the ground played host to another impact of the superhuman and kicked up a choking cloud of dust.

"I'm not your enemy! I'm here to help!" The reply came in the form of another fist, this one moving too quickly for him to effectively block it in time and impacting solidly with his reactor chest plate. A slight groan of armoured protest followed as his boosters fired once more and prevented him from being flung into the air and instead allowed him to land softly in the yellow sand scattered all around.

Thoughts whizzed through his head as the first serious bout of combat that he was actually capable of coherently processing had turned around and landed a solid punch on his peaceful approach tactic.  
Conner was essentially Superman but without the ability to fly or use heat vision and as he had so aptly demonstrated earlier, had the capacity to take on main battle tanks without batting an eye to the damage they dished out. That meant that this was one duel he could and had to go full out to win, even if it was the result of a misunderstanding.

"Suit, put some stopping power into the repulsors."

_Acknowledged, Subject Four. Palm and chest repulsors at seventy percent capacity._

"He's invulnerable, a little sunburn won't kill him."

He brought up his left arm to face the center section chest section of the feral Connor and watched as the various segments of his lower hands suit rearranged to allow the massive power output of his chest reactor to flow through the power conduits towards the energy emitter in his hand.

Half a second later the whine of capacitors discharging a singular white beam of pure energy at the speed of light sounded as white hot death shot forth towards the enraged hero.  
It impacted with a flash of light and heat, washing over Superboy's upper chest and bled off into smaller beams that covered the various areas of his abdominal area and the ground behind him.

He screamed, predictably, but it wasn't one of pain but more of annoyance, like a bee had stung him instead of a high powered beam capable of melting the toughest of armour.  
His solar charged cells obviously were stronger than said armour as he moved to place both of his arms into the form of an X, shielding his chest and face from Atlas's repulsor ray and began to move forward. He advanced slowly under the onslaught of the continuous beam of energy and sighted the source through a gap in his X defense. Satisfied that he was in attack range, he violently slapped the incoming energy to the side before jumping up to reach the staunch figure.

_Warning! Evasive manoeuvres recommended!_

He heard the suit alarm at the same time as he saw the human figure leap out to tackle him.  
The spinal thrusters fired in an attempt to put some distance between him and the rapidly approaching Meta and he flew backwards away from the angry hand trying to connect with any reachable part of his armour.

The golden sand was burnt to glass as the fully powered thrusters gave him a boost of speed away from the humanoid projectile but his feet were not as fast as the rest of his body as they soon felt the grip of super strong fingers.  
In an instant, his direction was changed from a backwards motion to a downward one as his friend tore him from his flight path and flung him to the ground, the super clone following quickly in pursuit as he fell towards the soft surface.  
First was the impact of his back hitting soft sand, the second was that of Conner's boots connecting with his lower chest section with a small _crunch_ of metal.

The material absorbed the bulk of the kinetic energy but a small portion bled through to the components and human skin beneath, causing him to gasp slightly. Nanites moved to correct any damage that the two impacts had caused and sewed shut any atmospheric leaks that were venting into the outside world.  
They had to work quickly as several punches from Conner attempted to drive their way into the plating near his glowing power source and into the human beneath. One after the other they connected and made small dents in the protective coating that wrapped around Atlas and caused him to gasp with each impact.

* * *

"Jesus, they're tearing each other to bits! Whose side are they on?"

"You really wanna stick around and find out?"

He grabbed her in his arms for the second time that day as they retreated away from the newly escalated violence that was happening just a couple dozen meters away. Unbeknownst to them, the dust cloud signalling their escape alerted two Manta Ray combat drones that had been dispatched to their position, and their controllers altered course to engage the freshly sighted participants.

Their flaps shifted so as to reposition their bodies to face towards the dust cloud and dive downwards.  
He didn't like the angle of the hill they'd just started to descend given that he couldn't exactly see what he was running on due to the girl in his hands and this was the very cause of him not seeing the inconveniently positioned rock jutting out of the sand dune.

His boot hit rock. Rock won. The two of them were sent tumbling end over end down the dune as the momentum of the run kept them going for quite some distance. Both hit the bottom at around the same time and it was the at that point that their unseen aerial pursuers decided that this would be the opportune moment to attack. The whine of their engines increasing in power carried in the air behind them as both centred targeting crosshairs on the two human clumps now covered in sand on the ground below.

To the sound of their remote operators curses both overshot the two teens that they'd been tracking, forcing the pair of flying robots to accelerate into a sharp climb that would bring them both back above their prey.  
He saw them first, the sleek military finish and foreign insignias that betrayed their identity as they swooped over the two in a low level pass.  
He quickly covered her body with his own in order to protect from the barrage of bullets that were sure to come soon enough. They did half a second later, deforming the ground around them and kicking up sand that ironically served to help the two avoid being hit.

A few seconds more of high calibre bullets tearing at their heels passed by before the drones passed overhead and gave them some breathing room.  
His female companion rolled forward with all the grace of an annoyed animal and brought her bow up to face the now banking automatons.  
She steadied herself, allowing her breathing to cease for the few seconds necessary to hit her target without having to worry about missing.

_Don't worry I'm almost there!_

She let go of the taut bow string in fright at the sudden mental intrusion. The green arrow wavered and diverged from its desired course, heading towards the gap in between the two drones and moving on to explode harmlessly in the air. The effort was not in vain as the explosion forced the two Manta Rays to execute evasive manoeuvres and abandon their second strafing run.  
The heat of their engines hit her skin as they passed over their heads once more and she nervously looked at her partner.

"Did you just hear a girl talking in your head?!"

"Girls are always on my mind, though they're not usually talking."

They didn't notice the shadow of the figure wrapped in black and blue until it passed right over their heads in pursuit of their attackers.  
Looking up they noticed a feminine figure extend her hands and clap them together as if to swat a fly out of her face, only it wasn't a fly but the two aircraft that she had taken an immediate dislike to. A second later heralded the results of her telekinetic anger when the two drones ignored all commands from their controllers who suddenly found themselves fighting an invisible force of gravity and collided with each other.

The few hundred rounds and pounds of ammunition and jet fuel ignited to provide the desert a second sun for all of three seconds before fading into black smoke and red hot scrap metal.  
From above the cloud of smoke descended the miracle figure that had incinerated the two machines attempting to destroy them before she gently touched the ground with a small parting of sand.  
he recognised her first, or at least he thought he did given that the colour scheme was the same as who he thought she was. The fact that she was a she was the main source of confusion.

"Well, J'onn, the costume looks familiar but I'm not sure the new bod screams _Manhunter_"

"You know my uncle J'onn?! Hello Megan, of course you do! You're Kid Flash! Wally! And you're Artemis!"

"Wait wait wait, Martian Manhunter's your uncle? Is that how you know my name?"

"Your names really Wally?"

"It's ok, we're team mates, friends! I made you cookies!"

"You know her?"

"No no I swear, beautiful, never seen her before in my life!"

"You both lost your memories too."

"Come on, I'll fill you in as we go. Robin, Atlas and Superboy need our help."

"Of Course, Robin and super what now? And why's the guy who holds up the sky here?"

* * *

_Diverting power to chest repulsor._

The passive blue glow of the reactor turned a vibrant cyan before discharging a half second long blast into Conner's chest, knocking him a few feet away from Atlas's position.

_Suit damage negligible. Recommend blunt force trauma._

He agreed. The sight of his fully powered repulsor failing to break the super human made him think that fists augmented with several layers of strength enhancing muscle might stand a better chance at incapacitating Conner and giving him a reprieve.  
He spinal thrusters fired to lift him out of the sand pit that the various punches had dug out from under him and he brought up his arms in a fighting stance not too dissimilar from the one Black Canary had used to beat him.

His HUD identified Conner's weak points in rapid fashion. The knees, chest, face and arms were all highlighted with various techniques and methods that could be utilised to utterly smash the Kryptonian and bring the fight to a quick end.  
He selected one that tickled his fancy and mentally fed the instructions required to the various systems working together in his suit.

He braced himself into a running position and leapt forth, leaving indentations in the ground as he gathered momentum and brought his right arm back in preparation for the seven levels of pain he was planning to dish out.  
His spinal thrusters discharged a one second burst to deliver as much power into the attack as possible as his arm extended forward to connect with Superboy's face.  
Force that would be enough to crush a car into pulp collided with superhuman skin as Atlas' armoured fist struck his foe full force, causing the Kryptonian to recoil backwards a few steps.  
That didn't stop Atlas from continuing the assault, it merely served as the opening round of their close quarters bout.

He fired another burst from his spinal thrusters and took hold of Superboy's head with both hands and squeezed. Half a second later both sides of Conner's head felt the heat of repulsors firing at point blank range, burning into both sides of cranium, driving him to end the attack by the metal man.  
The clone grabbed both of the hands searing into his skull and pulled to the side, too dazed to notice the helmet rapidly approaching his skull before it struck his forehead.  
He let go of the hands that were burning him and clutched his face as the smallest trickle of blood began to stream down the side of his left eye, obscuring his vision somewhat.

_Strategy appears to be successful. Continue assault._

Atlas didn't need to be told twice, he'd rather have a listening team mate with throbbing headache than a feral adversary trying to tear him in two.  
He let go of his challenger's head and delivered two blows to his sternum and gut, one with his left hand and the other with his right.  
He moved to grasp Conner's left arm and give him the opportunity to expose his midsection for attack and shorten the fight but his opponent was quicker than he anticipated, eluding his armoured had only to grasp it a second later.

Atlas realised the new weakness in his defense as a fist rammed into his reactor chest plate once more, repeating the process several times in the space of a few seconds.  
Each impact was marked on his HUD as a damage indicator slowly changed in colour from green to yellow with each delivery of superhuman hate into his chest.  
He gasped as he tried to bring his free hand into play and catch the left arm of Conner before it struck again and allow him some form of break from the onslaught.

His fingers wrapped around Conner's enclosed hand as he sought to deliver yet another strike into his chest and stopped it midway between the two of them.  
They were now deadlocked in a test of strength, solar charged muscle versus repulsor powered exoskeleton struggling against each other in a test of who was the mightiest.  
Hour long seconds ticked away as neither contestant was able to outmatch the other in the herculean display and it seemed that the duel would remain in a stalemate.

_Firing micro munitions._

Without realising it, the neck section of Atlas's armour that met the start of his shoulders reconfigured to allow two tiny rectangular shapes to jut out and direct themselves towards Conner's face that was mere inches away. Satisfied that collateral damage to their platform would range from minimal to none, the now prevalent compartments lit up in a small flash of explosive powder as they ejected two dozen tiny sphere shaped explosive canisters no bigger than the size of small screws at the Kryptonians vulnerable eyes.

They were less than four centimetres away when they detonated in a neat cluster no larger than a human head and released their chemical energy.  
Light, heat, pressure and sound exploded directly in the eyes the feral Superboy and disintegrated the distinct image of the ironclad figures face in a localised display of directed explosive power and forced him to relinquish his grip on Atlas' arms.

Atlas sighted the opening he'd just been handed and took hold of both of Conner's arms in a manner that would allow him to minimise any retaliatory action from the latter.  
He looked up at the sky as he mentally fed instructions to the suit and rapidly composing squares marking altitude and predicted airspeed appeared in a perfectly vertical above him.  
In the next instant, the pair was airborne; the Kryptonian still dazed from the explosives and unable to effectively counter the sudden accumulation of velocity remained the helpless passenger on the flight towards the heavens.

His boot thrusters fired in their traditional orange fashion and slowly, then rapidly, he shot forth into the skies to cover the distance he needed to reach his desired altitude. He watched the squares pass by as he climbed in altitude before banking in a semi circular fashion once he reached the required waypoint. He dipped over and watched as he shot towards the ground as it replaced the sky in his vision.

The squares were quickly flying by as he descended from his perch in the skies in an arc that put him in a path directly towards the golden ground. Conner snarled and screamed at the unbreakable grip that Atlas had in him as he found himself positioned directly between the sandy desert and the iron man holding him steady

_Repositioning extremities now._

At the required checkpoint, he let go of the Kryptonian whilst various thrusters in his lower back, thighs and arms fired to realign him so that his descent was brought from a dashing four hundred kilometres an hour to a more suitable speed of half a metre per second.  
His body rapidly changed from facing downwards to bring him into a position where his boots were facing the still falling Conner and his palms were angled towards the sky above.

A second later and his hand mounted repulsors fired up into their booster configuration, recovering the speed he'd lost in the realignment manoeuvre and shooting him towards the Earth.  
The next few seconds were relatively peaceful, a cool breeze licked the barren wilderness and the only sound to be heard was the light whip of air as it tumbled around the vast expanse of gold.  
A massive _Boom_ split the calm like a strike from the hammer of Thor and heralded a huge collection earth being thrown in the air as Conner hit the ground. _Hard._

Any normal human would have been left an unidentifiable mess of blood and squashed body material that would leave anyone who discovered the remains sorely confused.  
But he wasn't human, he was a practical demigod born from the genetic material of the last son of Krypton and as such, he was merely left winded from the sudden collision between him and terra firma. But his opponent knew this fact and had planned accordingly.

From out of the blue sky came the accelerating shape of Atlas, both feet positioned directly over the vulnerable and confused Conner, ready to deliver the crushing blow that would end their confrontation.  
The upturned sand that had been shot into the sky from Conner's impact had not yet returned to the ground from whence it came when he ended his descent, making it look like a figurative cocoon had wrapped itself around the steely figure.  
That cocoon shape was distorted into oblivion once the kinetic energy of Atlas' fall transferred into is opponent.

There was a loud _Boom_ that marked the end of the fast moving fall and for a split second, all was still.  
A split second more and the sand around Conner's was violently swept into the air by the shockwave of the impact as he was sent deeper into the desert beneath him.  
Rock, sand, dead tree, anything and everything in within a fifty foot radius was utterly demolished as the mighty attack rearranged the desert with its sheer power.  
The ever expanding mass of earth that had been upheaved by the two impacts travelled in all directions to rearrange the nearby landscape with its power before it began to crumble in on itself.

Slowly it ran out of energy and collapsed back into the earth from which it spawned, revealing the crater containing the two heroes.  
Atlas was crouched on top of the half buried body of Superboy, his fist in the air as his other hand grasped the Metahumans throat in a fashion that looked like a biblical painting of Cain striking down Abel.

Atlas didn't wait to see of if the blow had been enough to stop Conner as he launched a fist into his fallen friends face to make certain that he wouldn't be getting up any time soon, at least until he knew more about the situation and why he had been attacked.

The force behind the punch coupled with the massive impact of Atlas' landing caused the light of consciousness to go out in Conner's eyes for a period of time that would hopefully be long in scope.

He withdrew his fist from Conner's face and let out the breath he didn't know he'd been holding.  
He'd just incapacitated one of the most powerful members of the team after being attacked for no reason at all and Conner had seemed strange during the whole thing.

_Micro Munitions were not a known feature of Armour set. Recommend a full scan of suit systems once we have returned to the cave._

"I know, I know, but we have to find out what the hell is happening here first and where the rest of the team is."

_Alert. Bialyan ground troops converging on this position._

Their airborne affair had brought them to a stop quite close to where the remains of the two battered tanks lay broken and burning in the desert sun and as such, they'd been easily spotted by the military. He realised that they must have started converging on their position once they'd found that the one man army destroying their multimillion dollar equipment had been engaged by something capable of stopping him.  
He brought himself up to scan the horizon but it wasn't needed, the rumble of troop transports indicated that they were less than a hundred meters away from his position and that he'd be surrounded within the next thirty seconds or so.

Reluctantly, he stepped back from his sleeping friend and keyed his HUD to come up with solutions for crowd control, preferably non lethal so as avoid being shipped off somewhere by Batman once they returned to the cave.  
Then he saw the Armoured Personnel Carriers. They were M113 APC's carrying eleven passengers loyal to the Bialyan government inside their protective body and they were swerving to form a ring around the two figures.

The hiss of hatches opening and the _thud thud thud_ of combat boots moving from steel hatches to soft desert sand sounded out as the fifty or so soldiers took positions behind and around the vehicles and established a cone of fire that could be blanketed in bullets at a moment's notice.  
He knew that his suit and the Kryptonians skin could easily resist the hail of lead and destroy everything in sight if they were so inclined but that didn't put him at ease. Why weren't they firing at him? Why weren't they bringing their entire arsenal to bear upon the two?

His thoughts were cut off as his HUD targeted a vehicle that had just stopped a few meters away.  
It wasn't another APC but instead was a troop truck painted a deplorable shade of brown in the place of the more sensible desert cream that the rest of vehicles were coloured with.  
The hatch at the back popped open and out stepped a robed figure whose face was shrouded by the garments he was wearing. He eyed the two heroes before him with his scarred face and beady black eyes for a few moments before methodically making his way over to the two.

_Unable to identify hostile. Commencing Physiological scan._

A small outline appeared over the short man who approached them as various points were highlighted and a tiny percentage bar attached itself to the right hand side of his head.

The bar was incomplete before the man extended his arms to either side and spoke.

"Your arrival was most spectacular I must say, watching you trounce around with the Superboy was something that surprised me given how easy you made it look." He spoke in a manner that was far more sophisticated than his appearance would entail and with irritation dripping from his words.

"I'm going to take a wild guess and say that you're looking for the rest of your team." He wagged his finger in manner that looked like a parent playfully telling their child what was right and wrong.

"Unfortunately I can't let you do that, you see I have a friend who'd like to talk to you ."  
He stopped a few paces away from where Atlas stood guard over the boy and crossed his arms in a gruff manner.

"Isn't that right, Titan?" A large _boom_ sounded behind Atlas and he turned in surprise. Shock replaced surprise as he found himself staring at a black, gold and crimson version of himself.

"Yes, yes I would." He spoke with a steely voice that reeked of contempt for the red and gold figure in front of him before placing a hand on Atlas's reactor chest plate.  
A current of electricity arced up his arm and covered the entirety of Atlas's body, causing him to cry out in pain.

_Warning. Interface overload imminent._

"No!" He curled up his hand into a fist and swung at his attacker in an attempt to stop the deadly current arcing across his body. His fist made it ever so close to Titan's metal face, before being caught in unyielding fingers that exerted a grip that was uncomfortably tight.

"Your suits synaptic nodes are all overloading with information which will cause you to pass out. Don't struggle, there is nothing you can do, brother-" He leaned in until their helmets were nearly touching "-The end is here." His words proved prophetic as his HUD fizzled out of existence and the face of his adversary was replaced with a permeating blackness.

_Suit system failure. Powering down._

* * *

The sun had gone down a few hours ago and with little cloud cover, there was virtually nothing stopping the desert temperature from free falling to point where the costume he was wearing would be more suitable at a sunny beach rather than the place he was currently at.

_Thank Batman for installing a cloaked automated heating system in the suit, now-_

He brought up his wrist computer to sweep the ground that was a few dozen meters below him with all types of equipment and scanners_._

_-I wish I could remember why I placed a GPS marker here._

His wrist display suddenly lit up with a bright red dot as it detected something artificial that definitely did not belong in the desert. It was a large rectangular case about as tall as an average human with nothing that would suggest that it was anything extraordinary or secretive.  
Other than the fact that it was placed in the middle of nowhere, of course.

_Huh. So that's why._

He double timed it towards the case in the hope that it held some answers to the questions he had such as what the hell he was doing in rogue state in the Middle East and why he couldn't remember anything of the past six months.  
He gave himself a proverbial face palm when he realised that he'd forgotten to double check the surroundings for any hostile threat before bolting towards his goal.  
A dozen Bialyan guards surfacing from unseen sand pits caused his double face palm to replicate and give him a mental bruising for being so stupid.  
They shouted something that sounded like a command before deciding to charge instead of open fire with their rifles.

_Idiots._

He took advantage of the few seconds in between the two to reach for his utility belt and grab a few small black spheres. He quickly tossed them to the ground, causing them to dispense a noxious form of smoke that he had spent a few months adapting too.  
The soldiers hadn't however, and rushed into the choking cloud before they realised that they had gone from ambusher to ambushed when several of their number dropped to the ground following several well placed strikes to their vulnerable areas.  
One suffered a punch, while another felt a precise kick to his solar plexus. Two more went down as their heads were suddenly introduced to each other at high speed while another pair felt the pain of a Birdarang to their temples.  
The smoke was clearing as the canisters were depleted, revealing him to the guards that were still standing. One of them had clearly had enough of the smoke and mirrors affair as he shouted out an order before opening fire with his rifle. His comrades followed suit, and Robin soon found himself dodging countless streams of automatic gunfire.  
Bullets darted all around as he jumped between locations that weren't soaked in gunfire, quickly giving the area a once over in search of cover to shield his body the curtains of lead closing in on him.  
He didn't find any reachable cover in his scan of the surroundings but what he did see was a fast moving blur sweeping between the guards with the flash of their guns vanishing after the blur had passed them. He had an inkling as to who it might have been, allowing him to cease retreating and sight a pair of guards that were momentarily distracted by the new developments and disable them with his well honed martial arts prowess.  
The blur stopped moving as it whooshed around the remaining untouched guards to reveal a red headed figure whose face and body was adorned with a black suit and mask.  
Disbelief crossed his face as he seemingly recognised the person who was responsible for saving him from being turned into a bullet ridden corpse.

_Wally? What's he doing here?  
_  
The speedster stopped to let a devilish smirk cross his face before engaging the guards proper.  
Fists that flew faster than the guards could think hit skulls, abdomens, nerve clusters and shins as Wally cleaned up the remaining soldiers that had been attacking his friend, giving the latter the opportunity to get some payback of his own.  
Robin manoeuvred above two of the guards and delivered a dual kick to both of their temples, reaching for two Birdarangs from his utility belt before his feet had even hit the ground.  
The targets he'd sighted whilst airborne were seemingly pulled by an invisible hand into each other, rendering his planned attack useless by all accounts.  
Attacks like that were usually psycho kinetic in nature and if it was aiding him then that meant only one possibility.

_Martians._

He swivelled around to get a visual on the second person to come to his aid, seeing the shimmer of a cloaked individual against the backdrop of the night sky in the process.  
The cloak was dropped a few moments later and the shape of a feminine figure wrapped in black, red and blue appeared, her skin colour confirming his suspicions of her being Martian.

_Not that I'm complaining about help._

He heard another cry from native voices and saw two of his attackers enveloped in a rapidly expanding length of Kevlar cable.  
The sound of their helmets connecting when it suddenly stopped expanding and retracted into a tightened form marked the end of the brief fire fight and the start of questioning just what the hell was going on.

He didn't need to worry about one of them anyway, for he recognised his long-time friend even through the darkened stealth apparel he had on.

"KF! Man it's good to see a familiar face."

"Hey Rob, memory loss?"

"Six months! Let's hogtie these creeps and compare notes."

* * *

His eyes were heavy as he felt more than saw the several pairs of restraints locked around his arms, legs and torso. All over his body felt like fire, his reactor white hot and searing a stinging sensation directly into his brain. He'd felt this pain before and as such, he'd been able to cope with it a bit better than he had originally woken up in Cadmus just a few short days earlier.  
Thanks to that tiny bit of mental conditioning, he took stock of his surroundings and tried to get as a good a look without alerting his captors that he was, in fact, conscious.

He was in a large tent with several men looking like scientists hovering around a large sphere wired to another prisoner.  
He did a double take as he realised that Conner must have been captured as well, as he was also tied to a large cross shaped holding table. It was elevated and there were several computers reading out all sorts of information on various screens that undoubtedly had something to do with the wires and the giant sphere in the room.  
One of the scientists keyed a command into a control interface as his compatriot requested; leading to two continuous unbroken arcs of electricity travelling the length of the wire directly into two nodes planted just below his Pectoralis muscles.

The Kryptonian screamed in animalistic rage and pain as the electricity washed over his body for what were agonisingly long seconds and triggered the large sphere to move. It seemed to react to the cries of anguish and spun around in the harness that suspended it a few feet off the ground, rapidly accelerating before the power stunning Superboy was cut by one of the scientists.

He fed a mental command to his suit to make sure all external lights and displays were powered down while praying for the actual suit to still be working.

_Confirmed. All external audio and visual displays disabled._

He stopped himself from sighing in relief; he'd done that far too often recently and did another look around as his vision was augmented by the various sensors mounted in his helmet.  
Infrared and thermal imaging swept over the interior of the tent as he searched for any weaponry or personnel that could threaten him immediately after his future breakout.  
He searched in particular for Titan, the other version of "Atlas" that had incapacitated him earlier and undoubtedly taken him here.

If he had the same powers and abilities as Atlas then he would be the biggest obstacle to rescuing the remaining members of the team.  
Suspiciously no abnormal readings were detected, only the predictable heat signatures of the various guards stationed outside the tent and the strange sphere positioned in front of him.  
Comfortable that he could at least break the restraints that bound him to the table, he began to converse with the voice in his head, seeking a way to counter attack with maximum effectiveness.

"Suit, how are we doing power wise?"

_Armour is currently running on covert backup power. Estimate a thirty second power up sequence to bring chest reactor online._

He muttered a curse at the revelation. If Titan was anywhere nearby, he would detect the energy build up and come storming in guns blazing to ensure that his captive wouldn't escape.  
He'd need a distraction, and a big one at that.

* * *

An impromptu hogtie was had and soon all of the ambushing guards were rounded up and wrapped in restraints a few meters away from the group of young heroes meeting each other for the second time.

"So we're a team?" Robin quizzed the Martian who'd just informed them of the situation. Details like Mount Justice and how they'd been put together by the senior members of the League.

"The four of us and Superboy." She explained.

"Then this must be his!" Robin retrieved the broken and torn Super symbol that was now known to be a part of Superboy's costume. What had caused it to be so viciously separated from the rest of the shirt was unclear.

"Yes! Did you see him?" M'gann grabbed the shirt a bit more enthusiastically than she'd been meaning to, immediately realising as such and switching to a more emotionally balanced tone.

"I think we did." The blonde headed girl now revealed to be Artemis responded to the query.

"Who, feral boy? Some teammate, he attacked us." Wally thought back to the tank incident, and how just moments beforehand a superhuman projectile had thrown them about like discarded gloves at the end of a heavy bout of gardening before moving on pulverise the war machines targeting them.

"He didn't know who we are; I don't know who we are!" Artemis lifted her hands in the air to add emphasis to the sentence "And it doesn't help that that other guy went all smack down on him while he was taking on those tanks!" They'd both seen the red and gold figure that had descended from the sky and proceeded to engage in a proverbial bare knuckle boxing match with the Meta.

"I remember Batman ordering radio silence; our team must work for him!" The image of an angry scowl belonging to the Dark Knight flashed in his mind before it fizzled out just as quickly.

"And how do you know we don't work for my mentor? Woah-" Wally had tapped his chest in retaliation and unknowlingly activated the decloak function of his costume. Charcoal black gave way to a bright custard yellow. He tapped the button a few more times in childlike joy.  
"-This is so cool!"

"We look ridiculous!" Her costume wasn't as ridiculous as maybe the speedster's but she still felt embarrassed nonetheless, and Wally was only serving to further her irritation with his incessant chameleon colour change. "Quit touching yourself!"

"We need our memories back!" She exclaimed, frustrated and slightly scared at the fact that she was stuck in a country whose military were more interested in taking her in dead rather than alive.

_To help Superboy. _M'gann clutched the side of her head and in the next instant the world disappeared for all of them into a shimmering display of white light.

_(-)_

_The light quickly receded to reveal a room that was a hybrid between a small cave and an artificial dome structure. All across the walls, various different memories from each of them played like different channels on a TV set._

_"I've brought you into my mind to share what I've remembered so far, but I need your help. Together our broken memories can form a whole, if you open your minds to mine."_  
_The four of them stood opposite each other as they took in the request._

_"You wanna prod through our private thoughts?" Artemis was quick to object, after all, she had more than a few things to lose if someone were to see her entire history._

_"I have no wish to intrude but-" M'gann quickly moved to reassure the archer, having learnt from previous experiences with Conner how invasive the request was._

_"You need to hack our minds to find out what happened to us, got it, go." Robin seemed to be the only one who didn't hold any objections and he was quickly joined by Wally._

_"My brain's all yours, try not let it's brilliance overwhelm you." The not so humble attitude of one the fastest men alive revealed itself in a sentence that was unbelievably corny._

_"Or underwhelm you, hey why isn't anyone ever just whelmed?" The boy wonder deflated Wally's ego just a fraction as they all looked to Artemis for permission to start the mind meld._

_The red head took her hand in a gesture that told her that he wouldn't let anything bad happen, regardless of what was revealed._

_"Last six months only and only what you need."_

_They all took a deep breath and closed their eyes in preparation._  
_From within M'gann's cloak emerged three glowing hands, each travelled across the room and rested themselves on top of each of the costumed humans._  
_Half a dozen seconds passed by before the meld was completed and their memories merged with each other to form a whole._

_The images of Batman pointing at a holographic screen whilst outlining the parameters of their mission played out. The landing in Qurac and the offloading of equipment._  
_The stealth approach to the target site and the deployment of the analysis machine that would scan the area. The excitement of Kid Flash at the discovery of Zeta Beam radiation and the following orders from Kaldur to commence reconnaissance._

_Kaldur._

_(-)_

"Aqualad!" They all cried out in unison as they realised the loss of their leader.

"Where is he!? What happened next?"

"I don't know, that's the last thing I-we remember."

"Well we landed twenty four hours ago. If Kaldur's been wondering the desert that long well, that's not good for a guy with gills."

"Now that I know to look for him." "He's close, but he's not moving!"

-Readouts were fed to his HUD as the final damage diagnostic ran its course. His armour had been disabled with childlike ease by a duplicate of himself and he didn't particularly feel like going through that again. To that end, the suit had come up with the solution of insulating the synaptic nodes that tied into his nerve clusters, the information highways that allowed him to move, hit and respond as fast as possible. Without those interfaces, he'd be considerably slower, too slow to seriously challenge a manoeuvrable opponent that had any sense of tactical forethought.

That fact didn't numb the pain he was feeling, however, it just served to eliminate any chance of him being disabled so easily, ensuring that he could comfortably beat Titan to a bloody pulp given the chance.  
While the process took effect and his physiology was altered ever so slightly, he turned his head back towards the other captive member of the team.

The scientists had been running their tests meticulously for the past half hour on the clone and to say that they'd been less than ethical would be an understatement. Common sense would tell them that attempting to probe him with needles would have been pointless unless they'd been forged from Kryptonite but that hadn't stopped them from trying. After their fifth attempt with a miniature diamond tipped drill they'd given up, content to simply pump electricity into his body until he either expired or something unexpected happened to the sphere.  
He, however, had been the subject of minor but intense scrutiny. A pair of scientists had somehow managed to discover an interface in his lower leg and were uploading a virus or some other form of malicious program.

The suit had automatically responded with a fully fledged counterattack but so far it was only slowing down the viral upload, his cyber warfare defenses weakened by his powered down state and unable to divert all possible computing power to maintaining system security without powering up and that was obviously out of the question.

The sphere in the meantime was moving faster and faster every time the power was upped on the jumper cables attached to Conner and he wondered if somehow, in some form, that could be the distraction he needed.

A hooded figure interrupted his view of the sphere as he stood in admiration of the simple torture and analysis device. He crossed both his arms and looked back towards the Kryptonian then to the sphere and finally to Atlas himself with only a single word escaping his lips.

"Fascinating."

* * *

The cold wind of the desert night swept over the enclave of rocks that surrounded the resting place of Kaldur'ahm. They'd spent around twenty minutes dodging patrols and scanning through low visibility to find the origin of his rescue beacon. The state they'd found him in wasn't one that offered much comfort.  
M'gann had taken him into her arms in an attempt to connect with his mind, but the dazed Meta was hallucinating and whispering sweet things in Atlantean, preventing her from being able return him to his former self.

"I can't restore his memories in this condition." She held him ever so gently as the Atlantean mumbled for someone obviously dear to his heart, someone who should have heard his words for themselves.

"He needs immediate rehydration, call the Bio-Ship!" Robin brought up his wrist computer to get a lock on the Martian craft and see if it was able to pick them up in time

"I can't it's out of range, but you could get him there fast." M'gann gestured towards Wally who even the dark was showing signs of serious fatigue.

"He's too heavy and I'm too low on fuel. Right now, I couldn't even carry her." He pointed towards Artemis and inwardly cursed at how quickly his metabolism burnt through the energy of the food he ate. It was a blessing and a curse to be a speedster, not to mention heavy on the grocery bill.

"Why not just levitate him back?" The archer quizzed in confusion. M'gann could cover the distance quicker than any of them could in their current state and it seemed obvious that she should be the one to help Kaldur.

"I can't I have to find Superboy. Six months ago he didn't exist! He has no memories, just animal impulse. I'm the only one who can help him." She wasn't being entirely reasonable, emotion was overriding reason as the fact that she and Superboy were something. . . more was still sinking in after the memory restoration.

"Superboy's indestructible; just ask those tanks and that armoured guy. It's Aqualad who needs your help, like now!" Wally pleaded with the Martian to see sense and bring their team mate to safety and more importantly, water.

She was about to answer when a telepathic outcry stabbed at her senses. It was from the captured Kryptonian, obviously under heavy torture from whomever was holding him.

"No! Superboy's in pain!" She ended any chance for further debate and took to the sky in search of her friend.

"M'gann, wait!" The archer's pleas went unnoticed as the Martian rapidly increased the distance between her and the grounded heroes.

"We still don't know what erased our memories! It could happen again!" Robin hoped that his warning would prevent a similar catastrophe from occurring.

She sped through the air and changed into camouflage mode, choosing to leave the remainder of the team behind in the quest to rescue Superboy, she knew that they'd get Kaldur to safety anyway. The rocky outcroppings disappeared after a few minutes of flight and gave way to the illumination of artificial light.  
The light belonged to a large round tent guarded by several soldiers. It was also the source of the psychic disturbance she'd felt earlier.  
She dipped down towards the tent flaps and expended as much effort as possible to avoid alerting those inside to her presence.

It was actually quite dim inside in stark contrast to the ocean of light projected around the exterior of the tent, probably to deter infiltrators and make them easier to spot.  
They obviously hadn't planned for someone who was actually invisible to the naked eye as she managed to slip behind a few bulky life support monitors.  
There she spotted both Atlas and Superboy with the latter being used as an improvised conductor for whatever horrific experiments the scientists inside had planned.

She spotted two who were proportionately isolated from their peers and moved to render them harmless.  
A punch to the exposed areas of their neck and head caused both to drop onto the cold sand at their feet, leaving the command console they'd been operating vulnerable to her sabotage.  
She sighted the two levers allowing the electric current to flow from the generators to the Kryptonians exposed body and powered them down, ceasing the torture that had gone on far longer than it had any right to.

"Well, somebody's certainly a glutton for punishment. Psimon says- "The robed figure removed his hood, revealing a head that exposed an oversized brain for all to view.

_Forget._

* * *

His HUD spiked a warning as it detected a new figure enter the tent, one who wasn't human in origin; The outline of her form streaking into view and allowing him to reduce any movement that would blow his cover.  
She stealthily incapacitated the two men in charge of the electric apparatus and killed its power flow, saving the Kryptonian from any more abuse at its hand.  
Her body's thermal form rapidly spun around as he saw the hooded man from before seemingly smirk at her invisible frame. Slowly he removed the part of his cloak covering his face to reveal his true form.  
His skin was a shade of grey similar to the stereotypical skin colour of early science fiction aliens while his head was something else entirely. It was a ghastly display of exposed brain matter held in place by a transparent skull and strips of skin that ran parallel to each other.

He didn't have time to be repulsed by the spectacle, noticing that whatever was happening had stopped M'gann from moving at all, freezing her in place a foot or so above the ground at a suspended point.  
Thoughts quickly ran through his mind as he weighed up the option of what was happening.

He had a virus that was about forty percent done hacking his subroutines and a duplicate of himself located somewhere outside. He also had a sphere of unknown origin rotating at increasingly fast speeds and a Kryptonian that had been subjected to a heavy dose of electricity that would make Nikola  
Tesla shed a tear of admiration.  
What he hadn't had before, however, was a psychic Martian that had disabled the torture device and had occupied the attention of what he guessed was the biggest threat to his person inside the tent.

_Alert. Kryptonian returning to consciousness._

A pair of scientists made their way over to the scene where two of their number lay on the ground and their supervisor currently staring off into space with a smile on his face.

"Ah, Mister Psimon, are you alright?"

Silence was his only answer. But that was forgotten as around the room, anything that wasn't bolted to the ground began to rise into the air and levitate.  
Pencils, soda cans, clipboards, the whole works rose into the air around the now startled scientists and soldiers who failed to notice the now roused Kryptonian.

Atlas did notice though. He noticed the look of recognition and rage as the Superboy eyed the man known as Psimon planted near him.

"Suit, begin main power up. Now! Now! Now!" This was his distraction, the moment he needed to breakout and put an end to the whole enterprise being run here.

_Affirmative. Chest reactor warming up._

He kept looking at Conner, who was now snarling; His face morphing to form a look of utter hatred and his fists tugging against his own restraints.  
The Sphere seemed to notice as well. It began to spin faster and faster as the heart rate monitor attached to Conner skyrocketed then, in one triumphant display, shattered the apparatus that held it in place.  
It leapt into the air its circular motion gained traction on the loose terrain, propelling directly at the computer console beneath the table restraining Conner.  
Another second passed and it slammed into the computer full force, releasing the restraints of the Kryptonian who leapt forth from the table with a mighty roar.

He flew through the air towards Psimon and let loose a fist at the psychic. It connected with something, a shield of some sort and sent him flying backwards towards the still paralysed body of Miss Martian.  
Something happened as he touched M'gann, causing him pause and his facial expression to change to a more neutral form.

_Suit Power up at thirty percent. Exterminating viral infection and bringing long range sensors online._

Atlas watched all this as the Sphere rolled around the room to take out two soldiers who had heard the noise and come running inside to see what had caused all the commotion. Both were knocked out as the moving mass of material hit them with causal ease before stopping.  
A soft chirping sort of noise came from its frame and it started moving again, towards the computer which controlled Atlas' restraints.  
The device smashed into dozens of smaller pieces and the metal restraints holding him in place hissed and opened to grant him freedom.

He fell to the ground as the suit hadn't powered up fully, making it heavier than expected and more easily influenced by gravity.  
He clutched his knee as he hit dirt, watching the internal readouts of his power output climb steadily in the corner of his HUD.

_Suit power at sixty one percent. Detecting foreign energy signature approaching at a high rate of speed. ETA is fifteen seconds. Full suit power up in twenty._

He rose from his crouched position and looked once more to Superboy who he needed for his plan, for Titan was undoubtedly as capable as himself if not more so, he wouldn't be able to take him on alone. He'd need the help if any of them were to survive.  
Thankfully, whatever trance the Kryptonian had entered ended, allowing him to turn to face the red and gold form of Atlas.

"We've got company."

"Company who's gonna hit us in about eight seconds. Wanna work together?"

"Sure, I need to smash one of you before we leave anyway."

_Hostile marked as Titan incoming, suggest defensive posture._

Atlas moved to face the tent flaps that were now swaying in the cool night air, mentally preparing himself for payback.  
From behind him rushed Conner, who saw the black and gold duplicate of Atlas flying towards the tent through his enhanced vision and decided that the best plan of attack was to simply attack.

He let out a roar as he leapt forth to catch the airborne adversary before he could enter the tent.  
He got halfway before a repulsor beam knocked him back into the ruins of the apparatus that had held the sphere a few minutes earlier.  
Following the repulsor was a figure embellished in gold black and crimson, sliding across the sandy desert floor and coming to a halt just at the entrance of the tent proper.  
The figure known as Titan eyed Atlas as the dust settled around the Kryptonian's landing point, his piercing red eyes lending emphasis to his following words.

"The sheep attempt to escape the Shepherd. Illogical. Now both of you must be destroyed."

Before Atlas could react, Titan's left arm reconfigured to allow a small oval capsule to shoot forth towards Conner. The casing shot off halfway between its launch point and the recovering Conner, revealing a large electrified net. The ends of the net wrapped themselves around the Kryptonian and expelled a current of electricity that arced around his body, sending pain into his nerves and immobilising him for the time being.

"Now, where were we?" Titan grabbed hold of Atlas with blistering speed, wrapping his fingers around his right arm and pulled backwards.  
The latter was sent flying out of the tent, ripping a hole in its fabric before colliding with several vehicles that sat parked in his flight path. The twisting sound of broken metal echoed throughout the air behind him as he slid across the desert floor for a couple dozen meters and stopped after accumulating a hefty pile of sand behind him.  
He made a mental note to never allow himself to be manhandled again and brought himself to his feet as Titan landed a scant three meters away from him.

"Suit, Micro munitions!"

An acknowledgment rang in his head and the rectangular canisters containing the explosive spheres emerged from his shoulders. A heartbeat later they fired, having acquired a lock on their new target, streaking across the air towards Titan's chest section.  
An arm coated in material not native to Earth swatted the tiny explosive canisters aside before they could detonate as the rest of the body it belonged to dashed forward. Atlas let loose a swing at the rushing figure but missed entirely as Titan ducked beneath the blow, driving his left fist into the exposed ribcage of the unprepared Atlas. The latter brought his swinging arm backwards in an arc towards Titan's head to try and give him some  
reprieve from the lightning fast assault.

Titan ducked beneath that as well; driving his fists into Atlas's chest and face in a quick one two attack.  
He recoiled as the massive amount of force exerted in the punches pushed him backwards away from his opponent and towards the sand dunes behind him.

His opponent suspended his attack to extend his arms to either side in a mocking gesture.

"You are raw and undisciplined, brother. Perhaps a match for the animalistic creature you subdued earlier but not for someone like me."

"Just keep talking, all you're doing is giving my friends more time to get here!" He just needed a little bit of time to keep him occupied, that was all.

"You think numbers will grant you victory? Why do you think I was sent here in the first place?" He conferred a tone of mock insult.

"Because you're all that they had." Probably not the best response, he had to admit.

"Because I am better."

"At what?"

"Everything."

Their conversation ended as the boosters mounted on Titan's spine discharged a massive burst of thrust and shot him towards Atlas. The extra energy granted by the thrusters allowed his fist to hit harder than what would have normally been possible, colliding with Atlas in a solid impact that made a loud _clang_ reverberate throughout the surroundings as the recipient of said punch flew backwards once more, skidding over the sand before stopping a couple dozen meters away from his launch point.

Damage readouts screamed in his ear as the chest section of his suit's health indicator went ruby red around his chest plate and a meter flashing the words _Seventy Percent Integrity_ appeared by the side.

_Might I suggest you avoid those attacks in future, Subject Four?_

"Then help me, damn it!"

_Affirmative. _

His suit's automated repair protocols kicked in and rushed to repair the damaged chest plate while various other subsystems diverted power towards his reflex enhancers.  
He had to be quick on his feet to meet the now advancing Titan.  
He brought up both of his palms and fired up his palm repulsors, hoping to keep some distance between him and the armoured juggernaut so that he could draw up a better battle plan that was more tactical than getting punched in the face.

Power conduits hummed and discharged numerous bolts of white hot energy at the black and gold figure that either swatted aside them aside or ignored them entirely.  
Precious meters of distance disappeared as Titan strutted towards Atlas, bringing his own repulsors to bear in a barrage of red bolts that flew towards the red and gold humanoid.

Atlas fired off his side mounted thrusters to try and dodge the red death hurtling towards him that would cause yet more damage to his chest plate. Stray bolts clipped his shoulder, throwing off his steady sideways strafe and causing his knee to catch on the ground beneath him.  
He cursed as the error caused him to roll around onto his back before flopping onto his chest.  
His opponent caught the moment of weakness and leapt forth with his own propulsive power to re-engage at close range.

The _Thud_ of Nth metal boots hitting hard dirt rang in his ear as he felt gravity shift around his body. Two hands grabbed his neck and right arm, bringing his helmet a few inches away from his counterpart's.  
Atlas clutched at his throat with his free hand to try and pry the iron grip that had wrapped itself around it, but steely fingers held him firmly in their grasp.

"Your friends cannot save you here, they are nothing and will die slowly, _painfully _and I promise to let you live long enough to see me turn their pathetic forms into cold dead corpses."  
The fingers around his throat clutched ever tighter

"That is my promise to you, brother."

"No!" Atlas ceased trying to pry Titans hand from his throat and angled his free arm at his face.

The whine of a fully powered repulsor discharging sounded near their ears as the energy hit Titan dead in the face, washing over his helmet plate and forcing him to relinquish his hold on Atlas's other arm, freeing up that repulsor as well.  
He clasped both hands onto Titan's head and repeated the same attack he'd used against Superboy, allowing scorching heat a few thousand degrees in temperature to soak either side of his opponent's helmet.

Titan relinquished his hold on Atlas entirely, the latter dropping down to the ground without releasing his fiery grip.  
The same steely fingers from earlier wrapped around both of his wrists and pulled them to either side so as to stop the onslaught of fire scorching both sides of the black and gold opponent's helmet.

"Eat this."

Mental commands raced through his cerebral cortex to the corresponding components of his reactor and energy projectors, which responded to their master with unbeatable efficiency.  
The reactor casing on his chest glowed a bright blue and white mix before discharging the built-up energy into the corresponding chest of Titan.  
White light illuminated the desert as around half the energy bled off to the sides of his body but the rest hit its target dead center, repelling the humanoid away from Atlas and across the desert floor.

He didn't wait to see if Titan was down as he triggered his spinal and boot mounted thrusters to fire, shooting him towards the still prone form of his opponent. He accelerated on wings of flame directly at Titan, cutting the thrust at the last second and bringing his foot down to curb stomp the head of his adversary.

Metal met metal in a distinctive groan of power being transferred in a proverbial display of boot crushing ant. He let his foot rest atop Titan's head for a few moments before shifting to bring his weight to straddle his opponent and prevent him escaping what came next.  
He pulled back and shot a fist into Titan's face once he was confident that he had him where he wanted him. The first was followed by one, then another and another.

"You think-" His fist landed directly in the area between the eyes and mouth.

"-You can threaten-" Two more fists hit the bridge of the metal "nose".

"-My friends!?" Three more fists hit the temple of Titan as he struggled to escape the onslaught.

Titan's boot thrusters fired and brought him out from under the straddling position Atlas had had him in, shooting him into the air and into a tight arc that brought him around and back towards Atlas.  
Titan's fist impacted Atlas's face as he finished his descent and struck the young hero with vengeance for what he'd done.  
The red and gold figure tumbled backwards but landed him on his shins, his spinal thrusters prevented him from tumbling over and over and into a more vulnerable state.

He leapt forth as more power was fed into the various booster systems in his feet and back towards Titan.  
He caught his adversary by both shoulders and transferred the power of his leap into a tight spin thanks to his thigh thrusters, swinging Titan into a nearby parked tank.  
The superstructure of the vehicle caved in as a human shaped projectile crushed its internal compartments, stopping just short of going through the other side.

"Suit, Micro rockets!"

Two panels near his collar bone retracted and immediately let fly dozens of tiny missiles into the tank. They left trails of smoke as each on lodged themselves into every rent and crack of the fighting vehicle and, once all had successfully found a resting place, detonated.

A tremendous fireball shot up into the night sky above Bialya as unused ammunition and super potent explosives mixed together to render the tank and anything inside unidentifiable.  
Shrapnel and large chunks of the armoured frame shot in all directions, including the still intact form of Titan who hadn't had time to escape the death trap.

He hovered in the air for a moment before losing all upwards velocity and falling prey to the cruel laws of gravity.  
His suits optics automatically zoomed in on the falling Titan to reveal multiple scorch marks and deep incisions from the explosion as well as his palm repulsors that were flickering between a powered and powered down state.  
Altitude rapidly vanished in the free fall but the familiar wings of flame that characterised both men's means of propulsion fired and arrested his descent, leaving him suspended some twenty feet in the air above Atlas.

"I lied to you earlier." His steely voice echoed in the night. "I'm not going to keep my promise of killing you last."

He bolted from his airborne perch towards Atlas, catching him in his grip and forcing him deep into the sand below.  
The immediate area was lit up as the two elbow thrusters of Titan fired whilst his hands wrapped around Atlas's throat, forcing a choke hold that would kill him once his throat plating gave out under the stress.

"This armour may be unbreakable, but it is not inflexible."He depressed the armour even more as he spoke. "Soon your plating will collapse your wind pipe and the last thing your pathetic eyes will see is the face of the man who will kill every last one of your friends." His throat was being squeezed from both sides as the ground refused to shift anymore and hardened into a solid shape.

_Kryptonian life signs detected._

There it was, the sign that his friends were alright and coming to help, coming to rescue the rescuer. He could have cheered had he the breath.  
But his jubilation never propagated as the thought that Titan must have detected Conner as well crossed his mind and one last effort to keep his killer occupied entered his mind. Both his arms stopped clutching the hands around his neck and grabbed the torso of Titan, pulling him into a hug to keep him from flying away and engaging the new threat.  
Precious seconds ticked by as Titan struggled to break free of the grasp and escape the grip of his opposite number.

Three seconds.

Eight seconds.

_Kryptonian life signs detected twenty meters away. Recommend separation from opponent_

"Chest repulsor!" He cried out to his suit as he realised the best way to create a clean separation of the two dueling men of Iron.  
Energy coursed through wiring like blood pumping through arteries, powering up his most powerful weapon and firing as he let go of his Titan.  
The black and gold figure shot upwards into the air once more, some twenty feet or so as the shirtless shape of Conner smacked him into a bulldozer with a nicely placed punch.

Conner Was followed by M'gann who exerted her telekinetic grip on Titan and brought him up into the air before he could recover whilst Conner dropped down to assist Atlas.  
Superhuman fingers pried him out of the pit created by the rocket assisted choke hold and onto his feet whilst Martian will power prevented any further attacks from his quarry.

He looked up at the suspended shape of Titan as the subject in question began to laugh. Slowly at first then fast and boisterous before the armoured man spoke.

"Congratulations on requiring the assistance of others, Subject Four. Unfortunately this little affair has exhausted its usefulness." Shimmering ruby red light pulsed around his chest plate as a swirling ball of energy emerged from his chest.

"I'll see you again very soon, Atlas." The ball shrunk down to a tiny speck before shooting outwards and coating everything in a blinding white light and a howl of noise. M'gann released her telekinetic hold and clutched at her ears as Conner did the same. Atlas's suit automatically compensated for the sudden detonation but he still had to look away as his HUD polarised to compensate.

The sound and light combination subsided after a few more seconds and its purpose became clear when the its creator was nowhere to be found, seemingly having vanished into nothingness.  
The trio scanned the surroundings just to be sure that no surprises were in store for them and once they were sure of their safety, they let down their fighting stances.

Atlas dropped to one knee as he clutched his throat with his free hand, the plating in the process of mending the armour back to its original design.  
He felt Conner's hand grab his arm and place it around his shoulders as he began to carry the weathered combatant towards the now landed M'gann.  
She was busy talking to someone that sounded a lot like Wally judging by the tone she was using but her eyes were focused solely on the two battle brothers.

"-And don't worry about the souvenir, we've got that covered." She dropped her hand from her ear and brought it to Atlas's face, concern evident enough through her tender assessment of the damage he'd sustained.

"I'll take you both back to the Bio ship while Sphere follows us on the ground." She looked directly into Atlas's eyes and spoke more gently with her next few words.

"Is there anything you need us to do before we go?"

"I could go for one of those famous cookies of yours right about now." She smiled at the mention of her home baking and patted his head whilst replying.

"Deal. you'll even get to lick the bowl when I'm done with it."

* * *

Sorry for the delay but I think you'll agree that I made up for it with the size of this chapter.  
To give you an idea of what Atlas and Titan look like in suit form I'll tell you that I based Atlas off a hybrid of the Bleeding edge Iron Man Armour and the Mark 7 shown in the avengers whilst Titan is based on the Mark 40 experimental suit from the comics.

Until next time.


End file.
